Chargers and methods for wireless power transfer

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for enabling efficient wireless power transfer, and charging of devices and batteries, in a manner that allows freedom of placement of the devices or batteries in one or multiple (e.g., one, two or three) dimensions. In accordance with various embodiments, applications include inductive or magnetic charging and power, and wireless powering or charging of, e.g., mobile, electronic, electric, lighting, batteries, power tools, kitchen, military, medical or dental, industrial applications, vehicles, trains, or other devices or products. In accordance with various embodiments, the systems and methods can also be generally applied, e.g., to power supplies or other power sources or charging systems, such as systems for transfer of wireless power to a mobile, electronic or electric device, vehicle, or other product.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application titled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING POSITIONINGFREEDOM IN THREE DIMENSIONS FOR WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER”, ApplicationNo. 61/613,792, filed Mar. 21, 2012; and also claims the benefit ofpriority as a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/352,096 titled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING POSITIONINGFREEDOM, AND SUPPORT OF DIFFERENT VOLTAGES, PROTOCOLS, AND POWER LEVELSIN A WIRELESS POWER SYSTEM”, filed Jan. 17, 2012, which claims thebenefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/433,883, titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MODULATING THE PHASE ANDAMPLITUDE OF AN ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE IN MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS”, filed Jan.18, 2011; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/478,020, titled“SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MODULATING THE PHASE AND AMPLITUDE OF ANELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE IN MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS”, filed Apr. 21, 2011; andU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/546,316, titled “SYSTEMS ANDMETHODS FOR PROVIDING POSITIONING FREEDOM, AND SUPPORT OF DIFFERENTVOLTAGES, PROTOCOLS, AND POWER LEVELS IN A WIRELESS POWER SYSTEM”, filedOct. 12, 2011; each of which above applications are herein incorporatedby reference.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD OF INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention are generally related to systems andmethods for wireless power transfer, including usage with electric orelectronic devices, vehicles, batteries, or other products, or withadd-on accessories such as cases, battery doors, or skins thatincorporate a receiver for transferring the power to the device,vehicle, battery, or other product.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to U.S. Patent Publication No. 20120235636(U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/352,096) titled “SYSTEMS ANDMETHODS FOR PROVIDING POSITIONING FREEDOM, AND SUPPORT OF DIFFERENTVOLTAGES, PROTOCOLS, AND POWER LEVELS IN A WIRELESS POWER SYSTEM”, filedJan. 17, 2012, which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 61/433,883, titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FORMODULATING THE PHASE AND AMPLITUDE OF AN ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE INMULTIPLE DIMENSIONS”, filed Jan. 18, 2011; U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/478,020, titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MODULATING THEPHASE AND AMPLITUDE OF AN ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE IN MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS”,filed Apr. 21, 2011; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/546,316, titled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING POSITIONINGFREEDOM, AND SUPPORT OF DIFFERENT VOLTAGES, PROTOCOLS, AND POWER LEVELSIN A WIRELESS POWER SYSTEM”, filed Oct. 12, 2011; each of which aboveapplications are herein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Traditional wireless technologies, for powering or charging mobile orother electronic or electric devices, generally use a wireless powertransmitter and wireless power receiver in combination, to provide ameans for transfer of power across a distance. In a typical system, thetransmitter and receiver coils are aligned and of comparable size. Thisrequires the user to place their device or battery to be charged in aspecific location with respect to the charger, which is an undesirablerestriction. These are some of the general areas that embodiments of theinvention can address.

SUMMARY

Described herein are systems and methods for enabling efficient wirelesspower transfer, and charging of devices and batteries, in a manner thatallows freedom of placement of the devices or batteries in one ormultiple (e.g., one, two or three) dimensions. In accordance withvarious embodiments, applications include inductive or magnetic chargingand power, and wireless powering or charging of, e.g., mobile,electronic, electric, lighting, batteries, power tools, kitchen,military, medical or dental, industrial applications, vehicles, trainsor other devices or products. In accordance with various embodiments,the systems and methods can also be generally applied, e.g., to powersupplies or other power sources or charging systems, such as systems fortransfer of wireless power to a mobile, electronic or electric device,vehicle, or other product.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless charger or power system, in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates a more detailed view of a wireless charger system, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates a system in accordance with an embodiment, wherein adedicated channel for uni-directional or bi-directional communicationbetween the charger and receiver is implemented for validation and/orregulation purposes.

FIG. 4 illustrates a center-tapped receiver in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates how the charger and receiver coils can be representedby their respective inductances.

FIG. 6 illustrates a wirelessly powered battery pack and receiver, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment including a battery cell.

FIG. 8 illustrates a typical charge cycle or a Lithium Ion (Li-Ion)battery.

FIG. 9 illustrates a wireless power system operation, in accordance withan embodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of the communication process andregulation of power and/or other functions, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates on the left configurations of a tightly-coupledpower transfer system with two individual transmitter coils of differentsize, and on the right configurations of a loosely-coupled (magneticresonance) power transfer system with a single individual transmittercoil, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example coil.

FIG. 13 illustrates a resulting calculated magnetic field for the coilof FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 illustrates the impedance to the input supply of a transmitter,showing the resonance in power transfer.

FIG. 15 illustrates magnetization curves of a number of Ferromagneticmaterials.

FIG. 16 illustrates a hysteresis curve for a hard ferromagnetic materialsuch as steel.

FIG. 17 illustrates real and imaginary parts of the permeability of aferromagnetic material layer.

FIG. 18 illustrates the magnetization curves of a high permeabilityproprietary soft magnetic ferrite material

FIG. 19 illustrates a large area transmitter coil covered by aferromagnetic, ferrite, or other magnetic material or layer, inaccordance with an embodiment and a representative receiver coil.

FIG. 20 illustrates a Magnetic Coupling geometry, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 21 illustrates an embodiment including a solenoid type receiver, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 22 illustrates examples of magnets, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 23 illustrates a Magnetic Aperture geometry, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 24 illustrates magnetization curves of a soft ferrite material

FIG. 25 illustrates variation of the permeability with applied magneticfield.

FIG. 26 illustrates use of a switchable layer with two receivers ofdissimilar size and possibly power ratings and/or voltage outputs, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 27 illustrates a transformer geometry where a common magnetic corehas a primary and secondary wire winding wrapped around its twosections, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 28 illustrates a view of a transformer comprising two ER-Cores(rounded E-Core), in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 29 illustrates a view of a transformer including an E-Core and aflat section and PCB primary and secondary coils, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 30 illustrates a Flux Guide geometry, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 31 illustrates a representative top view of a receiver placed on acharger, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 32 illustrates a Magnetic Coupling geometry where the charger coilis covered by a magnetic or switching layer, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 33 illustrates a representative top view of a receiver placed onsuch a charge, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 34 illustrates an example of a Magnetic Aperture coil combined withflux guide layers, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 35 illustrates a top view of a receiver placed on the charger, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 36 illustrates two or more receivers of same or different sizeplaced on the charger, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 37 illustrates an embodiment having a larger charger surface area,in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 38 illustrates output rectified voltage from a receiver as afunction of frequency.

FIG. 39 illustrates wire or cable, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 40 illustrates a device including a shield/flux guide, inaccordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As described above, traditional wireless technologies, for powering orcharging mobile or other electronic or electric devices, generally use awireless power transmitter and wireless power receiver in combination,to provide a means for transfer of power across a distance. In a typicalsystem, the transmitter and receiver coils are aligned and of comparablesize. This typically requires the user to place their device or batteryto be charged in a specific location with respect to the charger, whichis an undesirable restriction.

In accordance with an embodiment, described herein are systems andmethods for enabling efficient wireless power transfer, and charging ofdevices and batteries, in a manner that allows freedom of placement ofthe devices or batteries in one or multiple (e.g., one, two or three)dimensions. In accordance with various embodiments, applications includeinductive or magnetic charging and power, and wireless powering orcharging of, e.g., mobile, electronic, electric, lighting, batteries,power tools, kitchen, military, medical or dental, industrialapplications, vehicles, automobiles, electric bicycles and motorcycles,Segway type of devices, trains or other transport vehicles or devices orproducts. In accordance with various embodiments, the systems andmethods can also be generally applied, e.g., to power supplies or otherpower sources or charging systems, such as systems for transfer ofwireless power to a mobile, electronic or electric device, vehicle, orother product.

In accordance with an embodiment, it is desirable that the receiver canbe placed on a larger surface area charger, without the need forspecific alignment of the position of the receiver.

In accordance with an embodiment, it is also desirable to be able tocharge or power multiple devices having similar or different power andvoltage requirements, or operating with different wireless chargingprotocols on or near the same surface.

In accordance with an embodiment, it is also desirable to provide somedegree of freedom with respect to vertical distance (away from thesurface of the charger) between the charger and the receivers. Anexemplary use of such a large gap is in charging of electric vehicles(EV), or trains. Another example includes situations where the chargermay need to be physically separated from the device or battery to becharged, such as when a charger is incorporated beneath a surface suchas the center console of a car or under the surface of a table or desk.

With the proliferation of electrical and electronic devices, andvehicles or trains (which are herein considered examples of devices),simple and universal methods of providing power and or charging of thesedevices is becoming increasingly important.

As used herein, the term device, product, or battery is used to includeany electrical, electronic, mobile, lighting, or other product,batteries, power tools, cleaning, industrial, kitchen, lighting,military, medical, dental or specialized products and vehicles ormovable machines such as robots or mobile machine whereby the product,part, or component is powered by electricity or an internal or externalbattery and/or can be powered or charged externally or internally by agenerator or solar cell, fuel cell, hand or other mechanical crank oralike.

In accordance with an embodiment, a product or device can also includean attachable or integral skin, case, battery door or attachable oradd-on or dongle type of receiver component to enable the user to poweror charge the product or device.

Induction is generally defined as a generation of electromotive force(EMF) or voltage across a closed electrical path in response to achanging magnetic flux through any surface bounded by that path. Theterm magnetic resonance has been used recently for inductive powertransfer where the charger and receiver may be relatively far apart.Since this is in general a form of induction, the term induction is usedherein; however the terms induction and magnetic resonance are sometimesused interchangeably herein to indicate that the method of powertransfer may be in either domain, or a combination thereof.

In accordance with various embodiments, an inductive power transmitteremploys one or more magnetic induction coil(s) transmitting energy toone or more receiving coil(s) in or on a device or product, case,battery door, or attachable or add-on component, including, e.g.,attachments such as a dongle or a battery inside or outside of device orattached to device through a connector and/or a wire, or stand-aloneplaced near the power transmitter platform. The receiver can be anotherwise incomplete device that receives power wirelessly and isintended for installation or attachment in or on a final product,battery or device to be powered or charged. Alternatively, the receivercan be a complete device that is intended for connection to anotherdevice, product or battery, directly by a wire or wirelessly.

As used herein, the terms wireless charger, wireless power charger,transmitter, and inductive or magnetic resonance power charger aresometimes used interchangeably.

As used herein, the terms firmware, software or instruction set aresometimes used interchangeably and refers to any set of machine-readableinstructions (most often in the form of a computer program) that directsa computer, microcontroller or other processor to perform specificoperation.

In accordance with an embodiment, the wireless charger can be a flat orcurved surface or part that can provide energy wirelessly to a receiver.The charger can be constructed of flexible materials and/or coils, orplastic electronics, to enable mechanical flexibility and bending orfolding to save space or for conformity to non-flat surfaces. Thewireless charger can be directly powered by an AC power input, DC power,or other power source such as an automobile, bus, motorcycle, truck orother vehicle or train, airplane or boat or ship or other transportsystem or vehicle power outlet, or through being built into and poweredby such transport vehicles or systems, primary (non-rechargeable) orrechargeable battery, solar cell, fuel cell, mechanical (e.g., handcrank, wind, water source), nuclear source or other or another wirelesscharger or power supply or a combination thereof.

Additionally, in accordance with an embodiment, the wireless charger canbe integrated and/or powered by a part such as a rechargeable batterywhich is itself recharged by another source such as an AC or DC powersource, automobile, bus, vehicle, boat or ship or airplane power outletor vehicle, boat, train or ship or airplane or other transport system orvehicle itself, solar cell, fuel cell, or mechanical (e.g., hand crank,wind, water) or nuclear or other source, or a combination thereof. Ininstances where the wireless charger is powered by a rechargeable sourcesuch as a battery, the battery can also be itself inductively charged byanother wireless charger.

In accordance with an embodiment, the wireless charger can be astand-alone part, device, or product, or can be incorporated intoanother electric or electronics device, table, desk chair, armrest, TVstand or mount or furniture or vehicle or airplane or marine vehicle orboat or objects such as a table, desk, chair, counter-top, shelving orcheck out or cashier counters, kiosk, car seat, armrest, car console,car door, netting, cup holder, dashboard, glovebox, airplane tray,computer, laptop, netbook, tablet, display, TV, magnetic, optical orsemiconductor storage or playback device such as hard drive, solid statestorage drive, optical players, cable or game console, computer pads,toys, clothing, bags or backpack, belt or holster, industrial, medical,dental, military or kitchen counter, area, devices and appliances,phones, cameras, radios, stereo systems, or other medium.

In accordance with an embodiment, the wireless charger can also haveother functions built in, or be constructed such that modular andadditional capabilities or functions can be added as needed. Some ofthese capabilities or functions can include an ability to provide higherpower, charge more devices, exchange the top surface or exterior box orcosmetics, operate by internal power as described above through use of abattery and/or renewable source such as solar cells, communicate and/orstore data from a device, provide communication between the device and,e.g., other devices, the charger and/or a network.

An example is a basic wireless charger that has the ability to beextended to include a rechargeable battery pack to enable operationwithout external power. Another example can be a wireless chargercontaining one or more speakers and/or microphone or display andBluetooth, WiFi, or other connectivity as a module that would enhancethe basic charger to allow a mobile phone or music player being chargedon the charger to play/stream music or sound or video or carry out ahands free conversation or video call over the speakers and/ormicrophone wirelessly through a Bluetooth, WiFi, or other connection.Another example can be a charger product or computer or laptop, ordisplay or TV that also contains a disk drive, solid state memory orother storage device and when a device is placed on the charger, dataconnectivity through the charger, e.g., Bluetooth, NFC, Felica, WiFi,Zigbee, or Wireless USB, is also established for transfer, synchronizingor update of data or programs occurs to download/upload info, display orplay music or video or synchronize data. One exemplary use may be acamera or phone charger whereby many other combinations of products andcapabilities may be enabled in combination of charging and otherfunctions.

In accordance with an embodiment, the wireless power charger and orreceivers have the ability to have their instruction sets, softwareand/or firmware updated remotely or locally by a user or automaticallyto enable enhanced or improved wireless charging capabilities or to addother capabilities or functions including user applications or apps.

In accordance with an embodiment, examples of the types of products ordevices that can be powered or charged by the induction transmitter andreceiver include, but are not limited to, batteries, cell phones, smartphones, cordless phones, communication devices, pagers, personal dataassistants, portable media players, global positioning (GPS) devices,Bluetooth headsets and other devices, heads-up or display glasses, 3-ddisplay glasses, shavers, watches, tooth brushes, calculators, cameras,optical scopes, infrared viewers, computers, laptops, tablets, netbooks,key boards, computer mice, book readers or email devices, pagers,computer monitors, televisions, music or movie players and recorders,storage devices, radios, clocks, speakers, gaming devices, gamecontrollers, toys, remote controllers, power tools, scanners,construction tools, office equipment, robots including vacuum cleaningrobots, floor washing robots, pool cleaning robots, gutter cleaningrobots or robots used in hospital, clean room, military or industrialenvironments, industrial tools, mobile vacuum cleaners, medical ordental tools, military equipment or tools, kitchen appliances, mixers,cookers, can openers, food or beverage heaters or coolers such aselectrically powered beverage mugs, massagers, adult toys, lights orlight fixtures, signs or displays, or advertising applications,electronic magazines or news papers, or magazines or newspaperscontaining an electronic part, printers, fax machines, scanners,automobiles, buses, trains, motorcycles or bicycles, personal mobility(e.g., Segway) devices, or other vehicles or mobile transportationmachines, and other battery or electrically powered devices or productsor a product that is a combination of the products listed above.

In accordance with an embodiment, a receiver or charger can beincorporated into, e.g., a bag, carrier, skin, clothing, case,packaging, product packaging or box, crate, box, display case or rack,table, bottle or device, to enable some function inside the bag,carrier, skin, clothing, case, packaging, product packaging or box,crate, box, display case or rack, table, bottle (such as, e.g. causing adisplay case or packaging to display promotional information orinstructions, or to illuminate) and/or to use the bag, carrier, skin,clothing, case, packaging, product packaging or box, crate, box, standor connector, display case or rack, table, bottle to power or chargeanother device or component somewhere on or nearby.

In accordance with an embodiment, the product or device does notnecessarily have to be portable and/or contain a battery to takeadvantage of induction or wireless power transfer. For example, alighting fixture or a computer monitor that is typically powered by anAC outlet or a DC power supply can be placed on a table top and receivepower wirelessly. The wireless receiver can be a flat or curved surfaceor part that can receive energy wirelessly from a charger; and thereceiver and/or the charger can also be constructed of flexiblematerials and/or coils or plastic electronics, to enable mechanicalflexibility and bending or folding to save space or for conformity tonon-flat surfaces.

In accordance with various embodiments, many of the types of devicesdescribed above contain internal batteries, and the device may or maynot be operating during receipt of power. Depending on the degree ofcharge status of the battery or its presence and the system design, theapplied power can provide power to the device, charge its battery or acombination of the above. The terms charging and/or power are sometimesused interchangeably herein to indicate that the received power can beused for either of these cases or a combination thereof. In accordancewith various embodiments the terms charger power supply and transmitterare also sometimes used interchangeably herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless charger or power system, in accordancewith an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, in accordance with anembodiment, a wireless charger or power system 100 comprises a firstcharger or transmitter part 102, and a second receiver part 104. Thecharger and/or transmitter can generate a repetitive power signalpattern (such as a sinusoid or square wave from 10's of Hz to severalMHz or even higher, but typically in the 100 kHz to several MHz range)with its coil drive circuit and a coil or antenna for transmission ofthe power. The charger and/or transmitter can also include acommunication and regulation/control system that detects a receiverand/or turns the applied power on or off, and/or modifies the amount ofapplied power by means such as changing the amplitude, frequency or dutycycle, or a change in the resonant condition, or by varying theimpedance (capacitance or inductance) of the charger, or a combinationthereof of the applied power signal to the coil or antenna.

In accordance with an embodiment, the charger can be the whole or partof the electronics, coil, shield, or other part of the system requiredfor transmitting power wirelessly. The electronics can comprise discretecomponents or microelectronics that when used together provide thewireless charger functionality, or comprise one or more Multi-ChipModules (MCM), or an Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC)chip, computers or Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs),microprocessor or an Integrated Circuits (IC) or chipsets ormicrocontrollers (MC) that are specifically designed to function as thewhole or a substantial part of the electronics for wireless chargersystem.

As used herein, the term microcontroller, computer, MCM, ASIC or FPGA,microprocessor or processor is used interchangeably to refer to anysystem with a central processing unit that is capable of performing aset of instructions or computer programs.

In accordance with an embodiment, the second part of the system is areceiver that includes a coil or antenna to receive power, and a meansfor changing the received AC voltage to DC voltage, such asrectification and smoothing with one or more rectifiers or, e.g., abridge or synchronous rectifier and one or more capacitors.

In instances where the voltage at the load does not need to be keptwithin a tight tolerance or can vary regardless of the load resistanceor the resistance of the load is always constant, the rectified andsmoothed output of the receiver can be directly connected to a load.Examples of this situation may be in lighting applications, applicationswhere the load is a constant resistance such as a heater or resistor. Inthese instances, the receiver system can be simple and inexpensive.

In many other instances, the resistance or impedance of the load changesduring operation. This includes instances where the receiver isconnected to a device whose power needs may change during operation orwhen the receiver is used to charge a battery. In these instances, theoutput voltage may need to be regulated so that it stays within a rangeor tolerance during the variety of operating conditions. In theseinstances, the receiver can optionally include a regulator such aslinear, buck, boost or buck boost regulator and/or switch for the outputpower. Additionally, the receiver can include or operate a method forthe receiver to communicate with the charger.

In accordance with an embodiment, the receiver can optionally include areactive component (inductor or capacitor) to increase the resonance ofthe system and a switch to allow switching between a wired and wirelessmethod of charging or powering the product or battery. The receiver canalso include optional additional features such as including Near FieldCommunication (NFC), Bluetooth, WiFi, RFID or other communication and/orverification technology.

In accordance with an embodiment, the charger or transmitter coil andthe receiver coil can be formed of any shape desired and can beconstructed, e.g., of PCB, wire, Litz wire, or a combination thereof. Toreduce resistance, the coils can be constructed of multiple tracks orwires in the PCB and/or wire construction. For PCB construction, themultiple layers can be in different sides of a PCB and/or differentlayers and layered/designed appropriately to provide optimum fieldpattern, uniformity, inductance, and/or resistance or Quality factor (Q)for the coil. Various materials can be used for the coil conductor suchas different metals and/or magnetic material or plastic conductors.Typically, copper with low resistivity may be used. The design shouldalso take into account the skin effect of the material used at thefrequency of operation to preferably provide low resistance.

In accordance with an embodiment, the receiver can be an integral partof a device or battery as described above, or can be an otherwiseincomplete device that receives power wirelessly and is intended forinstallation or attachment in or on the final product, battery or deviceto be powered or charged, or the receiver can be a complete deviceintended for connection to a device, product or battery directly by awire or wirelessly. Examples can include replaceable covers, skins,cases, doors, jackets, surfaces for devices or batteries that wouldincorporate the receiver or part of the receiver and the received powerwould be directed to the device through connectors in or on the deviceor battery or the normal wired connector (or power jack) of the deviceor battery.

In accordance with an embodiment, the receiver can also be a part ordevice similar to a dongle that can receive power on or near thevicinity of a charger and direct the power to a device or battery to becharged or powered through a wire and/or appropriate connector. Such areceiver can also have a form factor that would allow it to be attachedin an inconspicuous manner to the device such as a part that is attachedto the outer surface at the bottom, front, side, or back side of alaptop, netbook, tablet, phone, game player, or other electronic deviceand route the received power to the input power connector or jack of thedevice. The connector of such a receiver can be designed such that ithas a pass through or a separate connector integrated into it so that awire cable for providing wired charging/power or communication can beconnected to the connector without removal of the connector thusallowing the receiver and its connector to be permanently orsemi-permanently be attached to the device throughout its operation anduse.

Many other variations of the receiver implementation are possible andthe above examples are not meant to be exhaustive.

In accordance with an embodiment, the receiver can also be the whole orpart of the electronics, coil, shield, or other part of the systemrequired for receiving power wirelessly. The electronics can comprisediscrete components or microcontrollers that when used together providethe wireless receiver functionality, or comprise an MCM or ApplicationSpecific Integrate Circuit (ASIC) chip or chipset that is specificallydesigned to function as the whole or a substantial part of theelectronics for wireless receiver system.

In accordance with an embodiment, optional methods of communicationbetween the charger and receiver can be provided through the same coilsas used for transfer of power, through a separate coil, through an RF oroptical link, through, e.g., RFID, Bluetooth, WiFi, Wireless USB, NFC,Felica, Zigbee, or Wireless Gigabit (WiGig). or through such protocolsas defined by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), Alliance for WirelessPower (A4WP) or other protocols or standards, developed for wirelesspower, or other communication protocol, or combination thereof.

In the instance that communication is provided through the powertransfer coil, one method for the communication is to modulate a load inthe receiver to affect the voltage in the receiver coil and thereforecreate a modulation in the charger coil parameters that can be detectedthrough monitoring of its voltage or current. Other methods can includefrequency modulation by combining the received frequency with a localoscillator signal or inductive, capacitive, or resistive modulation ofthe output of the receiver coil.

In accordance with an embodiment, the communicated information can bethe output or rectified receiver coil voltage, current, power, device orbattery status, validation ID for receiver, end of charge or variouscharge status information, receiver battery, device, or coiltemperature, and/or user data such as music, email, voice, photos orvideo, or other form of digital or analog data used in a device. It canalso be a pattern or signal or change in the circuit conditions that istransmitted or occurs to simply notify the presence of the receivernearby.

In accordance with an embodiment, the data communicated can be any oneor more of the information detailed herein, or the difference betweenthese values and the desired value or simple commands to increase ordecrease power or simply one or more signals that would confirm presenceof a receiver or a combination of the above. In addition, the receivercan include other elements such as a DC to DC converter or regulatorsuch as a switching, buck, boost, buck/boost, or linear regulator. Thereceiver can also include a switch between the DC output of the receivercoil and the rectification and smoothing stage and its output or theoutput of the regulator stage to a device or battery or a device case orskin and in cases where the receiver is used to charge a battery ordevice, the receiver can also include a regulator, battery charger IC orcircuitry and/or battery protection circuit and associated transistors.The receiver can also include variable or switchable reactive components(capacitors and/or inductors) that would allow the receiver to changeits resonant condition to affect the amount of power delivered to thedevice, load or battery. The receiver and/or charger and/or their coilscan also include elements such as thermistors, magnetic shields ormagnetic cores, magnetic sensors, and input voltage filters, for safetyand/or emission compliance reasons.

In accordance with an embodiment, the receiver can also be combined withother communication or storage functions such as NFC, WiFi, orBluetooth. In addition, the charger and or receiver can includecomponents to provide more precise alignment between the charger andreceiver coils or antennas. These can include visual, physical, ormagnetic components to assist the user in alignment of parts. Toimplement more positioning freedom of the receiver on the charger, thesize of the coils can also be mismatched. For example, the charger cancomprise a larger coil size, and the receiver a smaller coil size orvice versa, so that the coils do not have to be precisely aligned forpower transfer.

In simpler architectures, there may be minimal or no communicationbetween the charger and receiver. For example, a charger can be designedto be in a standby power transmitting state, and any receiver in closeproximity to it can receive power from the charger. The voltage, power,or current requirements of the device or battery connected to thereceiver circuit can be unregulated, or regulated or controlledcompletely at the receiver or by the device attached to it. In thisinstance, no regulation or communication between the charger andreceiver may be necessary.

In a variation of this, the charger can be designed to be in a statewhere a receiver in close proximity would bring it into a state of powertransmission. Examples of this would be a resonant system whereinductive and/or capacitive components are used, so that when a receiverof appropriate design is in proximity to a charger, power is transmittedfrom the charger to a receiver; but without the presence of a receiver,minimal or no power is transmitted from the charger.

In a variation of the above, the charger can periodically be turned onto be driven with a periodic pattern (a ping process) and if a receiverin proximity begins to draw power from it, the charger can detect powerbeing drawn from it and would stay in a transmitting state. If no poweris drawn during the ping process, the charger can be turned off orplaced in a stand-by or hibernation mode to conserve power and turned onand off again periodically to continue seeking a receiver. In accordancewith an embodiment, to minimize power draw in between ping processes,the entire charger system with the exception of the microcontroller andoptionally a regulator powering it, can be shut down or put into a lowpower mode to minimize power use.

In accordance with an embodiment, the power section (coil drive circuitand receiver power section) can be a resonant converter, resonant, fullbridge, half bridge, E-class, zero voltage or current switching,flyback, or any other appropriate power supply topology.

FIG. 2 illustrates a more detailed view of a wireless charger system120, in accordance with an embodiment, with a resonant convertergeometry, wherein a pair of transistors Q1 and Q2 (such as FETs,MOSFETs, or other types of switch) are driven by a half-bridge driver ICand the voltage is applied to the coil L1 through one or more capacitorsshown as C1. In accordance with an embodiment, the receiver includes acoil and an optional capacitor (for added efficiency) shown as C2 thatmay be in series or in parallel with the receiver coil L2. The chargerand/or receiver coils can also include impedance matching circuitsand/or appropriate magnetic material layers behind (on the side oppositeto the coil surfaces facing each other) them to increase theirinductance and/or to shield the magnetic field leakage to surroundingarea. The charger and/or receiver can also include impedance matchingcircuits to optimize/improve power transfer between the charger andreceiver.

In several of the embodiments and figures described herein, the resonantcapacitor C2 in the receiver is shown in a series architecture. This isintended only as a representative illustration, and this capacitor canbe used in series or parallel with the receiver coil. Similarly, thecharger is generally shown in an architecture where the resonantcapacitor is in series with the coil. System implementations with thecapacitor C1 in parallel with the charger coil are also possible.

In accordance with an embodiment, the charger also includes a circuitthat measures the current through and/or voltage across the charger coil(in this instance a current sensor is shown in the figure as anexample). Various demodulation methods for detection of thecommunication signal on the charger current or voltage are available.This demodulation mechanism can be, e.g., an AM or FM receiver(depending on whether amplitude or frequency modulation is employed inthe receiver modulator) similar to a radio receiver tuned to thefrequency of the communication or a heterodyne detector.

In accordance with an embodiment, the microcontroller unit (MCU) in thecharger (MCU1) is responsible for understanding the communication signalfrom a detection/demodulation circuit and, depending on the algorithmused, making appropriate adjustments to the charger coil drive circuitryto achieve the desired output voltage, current or power from thereceiver output.

In addition, in accordance with an embodiment, the MCU1 is responsiblefor processes such as periodic start of the charger to seek a receiverat the start of charge, keeping the charger on when a receiver is foundand accepted as a valid receiver, continuing to apply power and makingnecessary adjustments, and/or monitoring temperature or otherenvironmental factors, providing audio or visual indications to the useron the status of charging or power process, or terminating charging orapplication of power due to end of charge or customer preference or overtemperature, over current, over voltage, or some other fault conditionor to launch or start another program or process.

In addition, in accordance with an embodiment, the charger can be builtinto a car or other vehicle or transport system such as trains,airplanes, etc., and when a valid receiver and/or an NFC, RFID or otherID mechanism integrated into or on a mobile device, its case or skin,dongle or battery is found, the charger can activate some otherfunctions such as Bluetooth or WiFi connectivity to the device,displaying the device identity or its status or state of charge on adisplay. More advanced functions can also be activated or enabled bythis action. Examples of such contextually aware functionality includeusing the device as an identification mechanism for the user and settingthe temperature of the car or the driver or passenger side to the user'soptimum pre-programmed temperature, setting the mirrors and seats to thepreferred setting, starting a radio station or music preferred by theuser, replicating a mobile device display and/or functionality on a TVor other monitor or touchscreen, etc. as described in U.S. PatentPublication No. 20110050164, which application is herein incorporated byreference.

In accordance with an embodiment, the charger and/or vehicles or devicesor batteries being charged or attached to may synchronize, upload ordownload user data, instruction sets, firmware or software or store suchinformation between them or a remote or local third device or systemthrough a wired or wireless connection and/or network.

In accordance with an embodiment, the wireless charger and/or thereceiver can include the Hardware and software/firmware to perform suchadditional functions according to a User Application Layer (UAL)instruction set and associated hardware to enable contextually orcontext aware functions.

In accordance with an embodiment, the charger can also include an RFsignal amplifier/repeater so that placement of a mobile device such as amobile phone, or tablet, would provide close coupling and/or turning onof the amplifier and its antenna so that a better signal reception forcommunication such as cell phone calls can be obtained. Such signalboosters that include an antenna mounted on the outside of a car, abi-directional signal amplifier and a repeater antenna inside a car areincreasingly common. The actions launched or started by setting a deviceon a charger can also be different in different environments. Examplescan include routing a mobile phone call or music or video from a smartphone to the speakers and microphones or video monitors or TV, computer,laptop, tablet, in a car, home, or office. Other similar actions ordifferent actions can be provided in other environments.

In accordance with an embodiment, it may be useful in addition to thecommunication signal to detect the DC value of the current through thecharger coil. For example, faults may be caused by insertion or presenceof foreign objects such as metallic materials between the charger andreceiver. These materials may be heated by the application of the powerand can be detected through detection of the charger current ortemperature or comparison of input voltage, current, or power to thecharger and output voltage, current, or power from the receiver andconcluding that the ratio is out of normal range and extra power lossdue to unknown reasons is occurring. In these conditions or othersituations such as abnormal charger and/or receiver heating, the chargercan be programmed to declare a fault condition and shut down and/oralert the user or take other actions.

In accordance with an embodiment, once the charger MCU has received asignal and decoded it, it can take action to provide more or less powerto the charger coil. This can be accomplished through known methods ofadjusting the frequency, duty cycle or input voltage to the charger coilor a combination of these approaches. Depending on the system and thecircuit used, the MCU can directly adjust the bridge driver or anadditional circuit such as a frequency oscillator may be necessary todrive the bridge driver or the FETs.

FIG. 2 also illustrates a typical circuit for the receiver in accordancewith an embodiment. In accordance with an embodiment, the receivercircuit can include a capacitor C2 in parallel or series with thereceiver coil to produce a tuned receiver circuit. This circuit is knownto increase the efficiency of a wireless power system. The rectified andsmoothed (through a bridge rectifier and capacitors) output of thereceiver coil and optional capacitor is either directly or through aswitch or regulator applied to the output. A microcontroller is used tomeasure various values such as output voltage, current, temperature,state of charge, battery full status, end of charge, and to report backto the charger to provide a closed loop system with the charger asdescribed above. In the circuit shown in FIG. 2, the receiver MCUcommunicates back to the charger by modulating the receiver load byrapidly closing and opening a switch in series with a modulation load ata pre-determined speed and coding pattern. This rapid load modulationtechnique at a frequency distinct from the power transfer frequency canbe easily detected by the charger. In accordance with an embodiment,this modulation load can be capacitive, inductive or resistive (as shownin FIG. 2 for simplicity), or a combination thereof.

As an example, if one assumes that the maximum current output of thereceiver is 1000 mA and the output voltage is 5 V for a maximum outputof 5 W; in this case, the minimum load resistance is 5 ohms. Amodulation load resistor of several ohms (500 to 10 ohms or smaller)would be able to provide a large modulation depth signal on the receivercoil voltage. Other methods of communication through varying thereactive component of the impedance can also be used. The modulationscheme shown in FIG. 2 is shown only as a representative method and isnot meant to be exhaustive. As an example, the modulation can beachieved capacitively, by replacing the resistor with a capacitor. Inthis instance, the modulation by the switch in the receiver provides theadvantage that by choosing the modulation frequency appropriately, it ispossible to achieve modulation and signal communication with the chargercoil and circuitry, with minimal power loss (compared to the resistiveload modulation).

In accordance with an embodiment, the receiver illustrated in FIG. 2also shows an optional DC regulator that is used to provide constantstable voltage to the receiver MCU. This voltage supply may be necessaryto avoid drop out of the receiver MCU during startup conditions wherethe power is varying largely or during changes in output current andalso to enable the MCU to have a stable voltage reference source so itcan measure the output voltage accurately. In addition, in accordancewith an embodiment, an optional output regulator and/or switch can beadded to provide stable regulated output voltage. To avoid voltageovershoots during placement of a receiver on a charger or rapid changesin load condition, a voltage limiter circuit or elements such asTransient Voltage Suppressors, Zener diodes or regulators or othervoltage limiters can also be included in the receiver before the outputregulator/switch stage.

In the above description, a uni-directional communication (from thereceiver to the charger) is generally described. However, in accordancewith an embodiment, this communication can also be bi-directional, anddata can be transferred from the charger to the receiver throughmodulation of the voltage or current in the charger coil and read backby the microcontroller in the receiver detecting a change in, e.g., thevoltage or current.

While a system for communication between the charger and receiverthrough the power transfer coil or antenna is described above, inaccordance with an embodiment the communication can also be implementedthrough a separate coil, a radio frequency link (am or fm or othercommunication method), an optical communication system or a combinationof the above.

In accordance with an embodiment, the communication in any of thesemethods can also be bi-directional rather than uni-directional asdescribed above. As an example, FIG. 3 illustrates a system 130 inaccordance with an embodiment, wherein a dedicated RF channel foruni-directional or bi-directional communication between the charger andreceiver is implemented for validation and/or regulation purposes. Thissystem is similar to the system shown in FIG. 2, except rather than loadmodulation being the method of communication, the MCU in the receivertransmits the necessary information over an RF communication path. Asimilar system with LED or laser transceivers or detectors and lightsources can be implemented. Advantages of such system include that thepower received is not modulated and therefore not wasted duringcommunication and/or that no noise due to the modulation is added to thesystem.

One of the disadvantages of the circuit shown in FIG. 2 is that, in thereceiver circuit shown therein, the current path passes through 2 diodesand suffers 2 voltage drops resulting in large power dissipation andloss. For example, for Schottky diodes with forward voltage drop of 0.4V, at a current output of 1 A, each diode would lose 0.4 W of power fora combined power loss of 0.8 W for the two in a bridge rectifierconfiguration. For a 5 V, 1 A output power (5 W), this 0.8 W of powerloss presents a significant amount of loss (16%) just due to therectification system.

In accordance with an embodiment, an alternative is to use acenter-tapped receiver 140 as illustrated in FIG. 4, wherein during eachcycle current passes only through one part of the coil and one diode inthe receiver, which therefore halves the rectification losses. Such acenter tapped coil can be implemented in a wound-wire geometry with twosections of a wound wire or a printed circuit board coil or with adouble or multi-sided sided PCB coil or a combination or even a stamped,etched or otherwise manufactured coil or winding.

In any of the systems described above, as illustrated in FIG. 5, thecharger and receiver coils can be represented by their respectiveinductances 150 by themselves (L1 and L2) and the mutual inductancebetween them M which is dependent on the material between the two coilsand their position with respect to each other in x, y, and z dimensions.The coupling coefficient between the coils k is given by:k=M/(L1*L2)^(1/2)

The coupling coefficient is a measure of how closely the 2 coils arecoupled and may range from 0 (no coupling) to 1 (very tight coupling).In coils with small overlap, large gap between coils or dissimilar coils(e.g., in size, number of turns, coil winding or pattern overlap), thisvalue can be smaller than 1.

FIG. 6 illustrates a wirelessly powered battery pack and receiver 160 inaccordance with an embodiment. The components of a typical commonbattery pack (e.g., battery cell, protection circuit.) used in a batterydevice used in applications such as mobile phone, are shown inside thedashed lines. The components outside the dashed lines are additionalcomponents that are included to enable safe wireless and wired chargingof a battery pack.

In accordance with an embodiment, a battery pack can have four or moreexternal connector points that interface with mobile device pins in abattery housing or with an external typical wired charger.

In accordance with an embodiment 170, the battery cell can be connectedas illustrated in FIG. 7 to two of these connectors (shown in the figureas BATT+ and BATT−) through a protection circuit comprising a batteryprotection IC that protects a battery from over-current and under orover voltage. A typical IC can be Seiko 8241 IC that uses 2 externalField Effect Transistors (FETs) as shown in FIG. 7 to prevent currentgoing from or to the battery cell (on the left) from the externalbattery pack connectors if a fault condition based on over current, orbattery cell over or under voltage is detected. This provides safetyduring charging or discharging of the battery. In addition, a batterypack can include a PTC conductive polymer passive fuse. These devicescan sense and shut off current by heating a layer inside the PTC if theamount of current passing exceeds a threshold. The PTC device is resetonce this current falls and the device cools.

In accordance with an embodiment, the battery pack can contain athermistor, which the mobile device checks through one other connectoron the battery pack to monitor the health of the pack, and in someembodiments an ID chip or microcontroller that the mobile deviceinterrogates through another connector to confirm an original batterymanufacturer or other information about the battery. Other connectorsand functions can be included in a battery pack to provide accuratebattery status and/or charging information to a device being powered bya battery pack or a charger charging the battery pack.

In addition to the components described above, in accordance withvarious embodiments, the receiver circuit can comprise a receiver coilthat can be a wound wire and/or PCB coil as described above, optionalelectromagnetic shielding between the coil and the metal body of thebattery, optional alignment assisting parts such as magnets, a receivercommunication circuit (such as the resistor and FET for load modulationshown in FIGS. 2 and 4), a wireless power receiver (such as rectifiersand capacitors as described above), and an optional Battery charger ICthat has a pre-programmed battery charging algorithm.

Generally, each type of battery and chemistry requires a pre-determinedoptimized profile for charging of that battery type. For example, atypical charge cycle 180 for a Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) is illustrated inFIG. 8. Such a battery can be charged up to a value of 4.2 V at fullcapacity. The battery should be charged according to the guidelines ofthe manufacturer. For a battery of capacity C, the cell may typically becharged at the rate 1 C. In Stage 1, the maximum available current isapplied and the cell voltage increases until the cell voltage reachesthe final value (4.2 V). In that case, the charger IC switches to Stage2 where the charger IC switches to Constant Voltage charging where thecell voltage does not change but current is drawn from the source tofurther fill up the battery. This second Stage may take 1 or more hoursand is necessary to fully charge the battery. Eventually, the batterywill draw little (below a threshold) or no current. At this stage, thebattery is full and the charger may discontinue charging. The charger ICcan periodically seek the condition of the battery and top it offfurther if the battery has drained due to stand-by.

In accordance with an embodiment, such multiple stages of batterycharging can be implemented in software or firmware with the wirelesspower charger and receiver microcontrollers monitoring, e.g., thebattery cell voltage, current, and working in tandem and to provideappropriate, e.g., voltage or current, for safe charging for any type ofbattery.

In accordance with an embodiment, in the approach shown in FIG. 6, abattery charger IC chip that has specialized battery charging circuitryand algorithm for a particular type of battery can be employed. Thesecharger ICs (with or without fuel gauge capability to accurately measurebattery status) are available for different battery chemistries and areincluded in most mobile devices with mobile batteries such as mobilephones. They can include such safety features as a temperature sensor,open circuit shut off, etc. and can provide other circuits ormicrocontrollers such useful information as end of charge signal,signaling for being in constant current or voltage (stage 1 or 2 above,etc.). In addition, some of these ICs allow the user to program and setthe maximum output current to the battery cell with an external resistoracross 2 pins of the IC.

In accordance with an embodiment, the wirelessly charged battery pack inaddition includes a micro-controller that coordinates and monitorsvarious points and can also include thermal sensors on the wirelesspower coil, battery cell and/or other points in the battery pack. Themicrocontroller also can communicate to the charger and can also monitorcommunication from the charger (in case of bi-directionalcommunication). Typical communication through load modulation isdescribed above.

In accordance with an embodiment, another aspect of a wirelessly chargedbattery pack can be an optional external/internal switch. A battery packcan receive power and be charged wirelessly or through the connectors ofa battery pack.

For example, when such a battery pack is used in a mobile phone, theuser may wish to place the phone on a wireless charger or plug thedevice in to a wired charger for charging or charge the device as wellas synchronize or upload and/or download data or other information. Inthis instance, it may be important for the battery pack to recognizecurrent incoming to the battery pack and to take some sort of action.This action can include, e.g. notifying the user, shutting off the wiredcharger by a switch or simply shutting down the charger IC and sending asignal back through the microcontroller and modulating the current backto the charger that a wired charger is present (in case priority is tobe given to the wired charger) or conversely to provide priority to thewireless charger and shut off wired charger access to battery when thewireless charger is charging the battery. In either instance, a protocolfor handling the presence of two chargers simultaneously can bepre-established and implemented in hardware and/or firmware.

In accordance with an embodiment, the wireless charging of a batteryoccurs with current flowing into the battery through the batterycontacts from the mobile device. Typically, such current is provided byan external DC supply to the mobile device (such as an AC/DC adaptor fora mobile phone) and the actual charging is handled by a charger IC chipor power management IC inside the mobile device that in addition tocharging the battery, measures the battery's state of charge, health,verifies battery authenticity, and displays charge status through e.g.,LEDs, display, to a user. In accordance with an embodiment, the systemmay include a current sense circuit at one of the battery pack contactsto measure and sense the direction of current flow into or out of thebattery. In situations where the current is flowing inwards (i.e. thebattery is being externally charged through a wired charging connection,and/or through a mobile device), the micro-controller can take theactions described above and shut off wireless charging or conversely,provide priority to wireless charging and if it is present, allow ordisallow wired charging as the implementation requires.

In many applications, it may be important to include a feature that caninform a mobile device user about the state of charge of a battery packin the device. To enable an accurate measurement of the remainingbattery charge, several gas gauging techniques can be implemented, ingeneral by incorporating a remaining charge measurement IC or circuitryin the battery or in the device.

In accordance with an embodiment, the mobile device can also include aPower Management Integrated Circuit (PMIC) or a fuel or battery gaugethat communicates with the wirelessly chargeable battery and measuresits degree of charge and display this status on the mobile devicedisplay or inform the user in other ways. In another embodiment, thisinformation is transmitted to the charger and also displayed on thecharger. In typical circumstances, a typical fuel gauge or PMIC can use,battery voltage/impedance, etc., as well as measurement of the currentand time for the current entering the mobile device (coulomb counting)to determine the status of the battery charge. However in a wirelesslycharged system, this coulomb counting may have to be carried out in thebattery rather than in the mobile device, and then communicated to themobile device or the charger, since the charge current is entering thebattery directly through the onboard wireless power receiver andcircuitry.

In accordance with an embodiment, the communication between the mobiledevice and the battery is through the connectors of the battery and mayinvolve communication with an on-board microcontroller in the batterypack. In accordance with an embodiment, the wirelessly chargeablebattery pack can include appropriate microcontroller and/or circuitry tocommunicate with the mobile device or wireless charger circuitry andupdate its state of charge, even though no current may be externallyapplied (through a wired power supply or charger) to the mobile deviceand the battery is charged wirelessly.

In simpler fuel gauge techniques, the battery voltage, impedance, etc.can be used to determine battery charge status, and that in turn can beaccomplished by performing appropriate measurements by the mobile devicecircuitry through battery connector points or by appropriate circuitrythat can be incorporated in the wirelessly chargeable battery packand/or in the mobile device or its PMIC or circuitry. In the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 6, a microcontroller or circuit is included insidethe battery pack to accomplish the fuel gauge task and report the stateof charge to the device. This circuitry can be the same, or different,from an ID chip used to identify the battery and can communicate eitherthrough a common battery connector, or a separate one.

In accordance with an embodiment, the firmware in the receivermicro-controller plays a key role in the operation of this battery pack.The micro-controller can measure voltages and currents, flags, andtemperatures at appropriate locations for proper operation. Inaccordance with one embodiment, by way of example, the micro-controllercan measure the value of V_(out) from the rectifier circuit and attemptto keep this constant throughout the charging cycle thereby providing astable regulated DC supply to the charger IC chip. The microcontrollercan report the value of this voltage or error from a desired voltage(e.g., 5V) or simply a code for more or less power back to the chargerin a binary or multi-level coding scheme through a load modulation orother scheme (e.g., RF communication, NFC, Bluetooth, as describedearlier) back to the charger. The charger can then take action throughadjustment of input voltage to the charger coil, adjustment of thefrequency or duty cycle of the AC voltage applied to the charger coil tobring the V_(out) to within required voltage range or a combination ofthese actions or similar methods.

In accordance with an embodiment, the micro-controller throughout thecharging process may monitor the end of charge and/or other signals fromcharger and/or protection circuit and the current sense circuit (used tosense battery pack current direction and value) to take appropriateaction. Li-Ion batteries, for example, need to be charged below acertain temperature for safety reasons. In accordance with anembodiment, it is therefore desirable to monitor the cell, wirelesspower receiver coil or other temperature and to take appropriate action,such as to terminate charging or lower charging current, if a certainmaximum temperature is exceeded.

During charging, as shown in FIG. 8, the battery cell voltage increases,in this example, from 3 V or lower, to 4.2 V, as it is charged. TheV_(out) of the wireless power receiver is input to a charger IC and ifthis V_(out) is kept constant (e.g., 5V), a large voltage drop (up to 2V or more) can occur across this IC especially during Stage 1 wheremaximum current is applied. With charging currents of up to 1 A, thismay translate to up to 2 Watts of wasted power/heat across this IC thatmay contribute to battery heating. In accordance with an embodiment, itis therefore desirable to implement a strategy whereby the V_(out) intothe charger IC tracks the battery voltage thereby creating a smallervoltage drop and therefore loss across the charger IC. This can providea significant improvement in performance, since thermal performance ofthe battery pack is important.

In accordance with an embodiment, the communication between the receiverand charger can follow a pre-determined protocol, including e.g., baudrate, modulation depth, and a pre-determined method for hand-shake,establishment of communication, and signaling, as well as optionallymethods for providing closed loop control and regulation of, e.g.,power, voltage, in the receiver.

In accordance with an embodiment, operation 190 of a wireless powersystem as illustrated in FIG. 9 can be as follows: the chargerperiodically activates the charger coil driver and powers the chargercoil with a drive signal of appropriate frequency. During this ‘ping’process, if a receiver coil is placed on top or close to the chargercoil, power is received through the receiver coil and the receivercircuit is energized. The receiver microcontroller is activated by thereceived power and begins to perform an initiation process whereby thereceiver ID, its presence, power or voltage requirements, receiver orbattery temperature or state of charge and/or other information is sentback to the charger. If this information is verified and found to bevalid, then the charger proceeds to provide continuous power to thereceiver. The receiver can alternately send an end of charge,over-temperature, battery full, or other messages that will be handledappropriately by the charger and actions performed. The length of theping process should be configured to be of sufficient length for thereceiver to power up its microcontroller and to respond back and for theresponse to be received and understood. The length of time between thepings can be determined by the implementation designer. If the pingprocess is performed often, the stand-by power use of the charger ishigher. Alternately, if the ping is performed infrequently, the systemwill have a delay before the charger discovers a receiver nearby. So inpractice, a balance must be achieved.

Alternately, in accordance with an embodiment, the ping operation can beinitiated upon discovery of a nearby receiver by other means. Thisprovides a very low stand-by power use by the charger and can beperformed by including a magnet in the receiver and a magnetic sensor inthe charger or through optical, capacitive, weight, NFC or Bluetooth,RFID or other RF communication or other methods for detection.

Alternatively, in accordance with an embodiment, the system can bedesigned or implemented to be always ON (i.e. the charger coil ispowered at an appropriate drive frequency) or pinged periodically andpresence of the receiver coil brings the coil to resonance with thereceiver coil and power transfer occurs. The receiver in this case maynot even contain a microcontroller and act autonomously and may simplyhave a regulator in the receiver to provide regulated output power to adevice, its skin, case, or battery. In those embodiments in whichperiodic pinging is performed, the presence of a receiver can bedetected by measuring a higher degree of current flow or power transferor other means and the charger can simply be kept on to continuetransfer of power until either the power drawn falls below a certainlevel or an end of charge and/or no device present is detected.

In another embodiment, the charger can be in an off or standby, or lowor no power condition, until a receiver is detected by means of itspresence through a magnetic, RF, optical, capacitive or other methods.For example, in accordance with an embodiment the receiver can containan RFID chip and once it is present on or nearby the charger, thecharger would turn on or begin pinging to detect a receiver.

In accordance with an embodiment, the protocol used for communicationcan be any of, e.g. common RZ, NRZ, Manchester code, used forcommunication. An example of the communication process and regulation ofpower and/or other functions is illustrated in FIG. 10. In accordancewith an embodiment, the charger can periodically start and apply a pingvoltage 200 of pre-determined frequency and length to the charger coil(shown in the lower illustration 202 in FIG. 10). The receiver is thenactivated, and can begin to send back communication signals (shown inthe upper illustration 204 of FIG. 10). The communication signal caninclude an optional preamble that is used to synchronize the detectioncircuit in the charger and prepare it for detection of communication. Acommunication containing a data packet can then follow, optionallyfollowed by checksum and parity bits. Similar processes are used incommunication systems and similar techniques can be followed. Inaccordance with an embodiment, the actual data packet can includeinformation such as an ID code for the receiver, received voltage,power, or current values, status of the battery, amount of power in thebattery, battery or circuit temperature, end of charge or battery fullsignals, presence of external wired charger, or any combination of theabove. Also this packet can include the actual voltage, power, current,value or the difference between the actual value and the desired valueor some encoded value that will be useful for the charger to determinehow best to regulate the output.

Alternatively, in accordance with an embodiment, the communicationsignal can be a pre-determined pattern that is repetitive and simplylets the charger know that a receiver is present and/or that thereceiver is a valid device within the power range of the charger. Anycombination of systems can be designed to provide the requiredperformance.

In accordance with an embodiment, in response to the receiver providinginformation regarding, e.g, output power or voltage, the charger canmodify the voltage, frequency, duty cycle of the charger coil signal, ora combination of the above. The charger can also use other techniques tomodify the power out of the charger coil and to adjust the receivedpower. Alternatively the charger can simply continue to provide power tothe receiver if an approved receiver is detected and continues to bepresent. The charger can also monitor the current into the charger coiland/or its temperature to ensure that no extra-ordinary fault conditionsexist. One example of this type of fault may be if instead of areceiver, a metal object is placed on the charger.

In accordance with an embodiment, the charger can adjust one or moreparameters to increase or decrease the power or voltage in the receiver,and then wait for the receiver to provide further information beforechanging a parameter again, or it can use more sophisticatedProportional Integral Derivative (PID) or other control mechanism forclosing the loop with the receiver and achieving output power control.Alternatively, as described above, the charger can provide a constantoutput power, and the receiver can regulate the power through aregulator or a charger IC or a combination of these to provide therequired power to a device or battery.

Various manufacturers can use different encodings, and also bit ratesand protocols. The control process used by different manufacturers canalso differ, further causing interoperability problems between variouschargers and receivers. A source of interoperability differences can bethe size, shape, and number of turns used for the power transfer coils.Furthermore, depending on the input voltage used, the design of awireless power system can step up or down the voltage in the receiverdepending on the voltage required by a device by having appropriatenumber of turns in the charger and receiver coils. However, a receiverfrom one manufacturer may then not be able to operate on anothermanufacturer charger due to these differences in designs employed. It istherefore beneficial to provide a system that can operate with differentreceivers or chargers and can be universal.

The resonant frequency, F of any LC circuit is given by:F=½π√LCwhere L is the Inductance of the circuit or coil in Henries and C is theCapacitance in Farads. For the system shown in FIG. 2, one may use thevalues of C1 and L1 in the above calculation for a free running chargerand as a Receiver is brought close to this circuit, this value ischanged by the mutual coupling of the coils involved. In those instancesthat a ferrite shield layer is used behind a coil in the charger and/orreceiver, the inductance of the coil is affected by the permeability ofthe shield and this modified permeability should be used in the abovecalculation.

In accordance with an embodiment, to be able to detect and power/chargevarious receivers, the charger can be designed such that the initialping signal is at such a frequency range to initially be able to powerand activate the receiver circuitry in any receiver during the pingprocess. After this initial power up of the receiver, the chargercommunication circuit should be able to detect and understand thecommunication signal from the receiver. Many microcontrollers are ableto communicate in multiple formats and may have different input pins (ora single input pin) that can be configured differently (or individually)to simultaneously receive the communication signal and synchronize andunderstand the communication at different baud rates and protocols. Inaccordance with an embodiment, the charger firmware can then decide onwhich type of receiver is present and proceed to regulate or implementwhat is required (e.g., end of charge, shut-off, fault condition).Depending on the message received, the charger can then decide to changethe charger driver voltage amplitude, frequency, or duty cycle, or acombination of these or other parameters to provide the appropriateregulated output.

In accordance with an embodiment, the charger's behavior can also takeinto account the difference in the coil geometry, e.g., turns ratio. Forexample, a charger and receiver pair from one or more manufacturers mayrequire operation of the charger drive voltage at 150 kHz. However, ifthe same receiver is placed on a charger from another manufacturer ordriven with different coil/input voltage combination, to achieve thesame output power, the charger frequency may need to be 200 kHz. Thecharger program can detect the type of receiver placed on it and shiftthe frequency appropriately to achieve a baseline output power andcontinue regulating from there. In accordance with an embodiment, thecharger can be implemented so that it is able to ping and/or decode andimplement multiple communication and regulation protocols and respond tothem appropriately. This enables the charger to be provided as part of amulti-protocol system, and to operate with different types of receivers,technologies and manufacturers.

For receivers that contain an onboard regulator for the output power,stability of the input voltage to the regulator is not as critical as areceiver with no output regulator stage, since the regulator performs asmoothing function and keeps the output voltage at the desired levelwith any load changes. It is however, important not to exceed themaximum rated input voltage of the regulator or to drop below a levelrequired so that the output voltage could no longer be maintained at therequired value. However, in general, inclusion of a regulator and/or acharger IC chip (for batteries) reduces the power/voltage regulationrequirements at the input to the regulator stage, at the expense of theadditional size and cost of this component. In accordance with variousembodiments, simpler voltage limiting output stages such as Zenerdiodes, Trans Voltage Suppressors (TVS) or other voltage limiting orclamping ICs or circuits, can be used. However, these stages simplyclamp the maximum voltage level, rather than providing true output stageregulation. In accordance with an embodiment, such components may alsobe used as a safety mechanism before the output regulator stage. Inaccordance with another embodiment, one or multiple of these voltagelimiting and regulation stages may be combined with a feedbackregulation system as described above, whereby the input voltage to thereceiver output regulator and/or the voltage limiting system ismonitored and communicated to the charger, so that the charger canmaintain this voltage in a desirable range as described earlier. In thismanner, a multiple stage regulation can be created to provide additionalsafety and reliability.

While the system above describes a system wherein the communication isprimarily through the coil, as described earlier, communication can alsobe implemented through a separate coil, RF, optical system or acombination of the above. In such circumstances, a multi-protocol systemcan also be used to interoperate between systems with differentcommunication and/or control protocols, or different means ofcommunication.

Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) is an important aspect of performanceof any electronic device. Any device to be sold commercially requiresadherence to regulation in different countries or regions in terms ofradiated power from it. Any power supply (wired or wireless) thatincludes high frequency switching can produce both conducted andradiated electromagnetic interference (EMI) at levels that exceed theacceptable limits so care should be taken to keep such emissions to aminimum.

For an inductive charger comprising a number of coils and electronicsswitches and control circuitry, the main sources of emission include:

-   -   Any potential radiated noise from switching FETS, drivers, or        sense and control circuitry. This noise can be at higher        frequency than the fundamental drive frequency of the coils and        can be emitted away from the charger because of the frequency.        This noise can be minimized by optimizing the drive circuit to        avoid sharp edges in the drive waveform and associated noise.    -   Noise from copper traces with AC signals. This noise can also be        at higher frequency and emit away from the charger. The length        of these paths should be minimized.    -   Electromagnetic emission from the switched coil. For coils        described here and driven in the 100's of kHz up to several MHz,        the wavelength of the Electromagnetic (EM) field generated can        be in the hundreds of meters. Given the small length of the        coils windings (often 1 m or less), the coils used are not        efficient far-field transmitters of the EM field and the        generated EM field is in general highly contained near the coil        surface. The magnetic flux pattern from a PCB coil is highly        contained in the area of a coil and does not emit efficiently        away from the coil.    -   Care should be taken when designing the current paths, and in        some embodiments shielding of the FETs or other ICs or        electronics components may be necessary. In addition, switching        the coils with waveforms that have higher frequency components,        gives rise to noise at higher frequencies. In any of the above        geometries described, incorporation of conductive layers and/or        ferromagnetic layers in the system can shield the outside        environment from any potential radiative fields. The conductive        layers can be incorporated in the PCB to eliminate the need for        additional separate shielding layers.

In any of the configurations described here, care should be taken whendesigning the current paths, and in some embodiments shielding of theFETs or other ICs or electronics components may be necessary.

In accordance with an embodiment, The shielding can be implemented byincorporation of ferrite or metal sheets or components or a combinationthereof. Use of thin layers (typically several micrometers of less inthickness) of metal or other conductive paint, polymer, nano material,dielectric or alike that take advantage of frequency dependence of theskin effect to provide a frequency dependent shielding or attenuationhave been described in other patent applications (e.g., U.S. PatentPublication No. 20090096413, which application is herein incorporated byreference) where a process for incorporating a thin layer of metal inthe top and/or bottom layer or other areas of the charger have beendescribed. Since the layer does not absorb incident EM fields at thefrequency of operation of the device, they would pass through even onthe top surface of the charger (facing the charger coil or on the topsurface) but higher frequency components would be absorbed reducing oreliminating the harmful effect of higher frequency components radiationto nearby devices, interference, or effects on living organisms orhumans and meeting regulatory conditions for operation. It is thereforepossible to incorporate the charger or receiver into parts or productswhere the charger and/or receiver coil is covered by a thin layer ofconductive or conductive containing material or layer. Such conductivematerial can include metallic, magnetic, plastic electronic or othermaterial or layers.

In many situations, the frequency content of any EMI emissions from thewireless charger and receiver is important, and care should be takenthat the fundamental frequency and its harmonics do not exceed requiredvalues and do not cause unnecessary interference with other electronicdevices, vehicles or components nearby.

In accordance with an embodiment, one method that can be used to reducethe peak value of such emissions is to intentionally introduce acontrolled dither (variation) to the frequency of the operation of thecharger. Such a dither would reduce the peak and spread the frequencycontent of the fundamental emission and its harmonic over a range offrequencies determined by the amount of the dither or shift introduced.Appropriate implementation of dither can reduce undesired interferenceissues at a given frequency to acceptable levels. However, the overallemitted power may not be reduced. To introduce a dither in any of thesystems described here, the charger driver can be appropriately drivenby the MCU to dither its operating frequency or this can be hard wiredinto the design. Introduction of dither would typically introduce a slowripple to the output voltage from the receiver. However, this slowripple can be kept to a minimum or a regulator or circuit can beincorporated into the receiver to reduce this ripple to an acceptablelevel or to eliminate it.

In accordance with an embodiment, the multi-protocol approachesdescribed here are useful for development of a universal system that canoperate amongst multiple systems and provide user convenience.

In accordance with an embodiment, the systems described here can usediscreet electronics components or some or all of the functions,circuits or ICs described above can be integrated into an ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or a Multi-Chip Module (MCM)packaging to achieve smaller footprint, better performance/noise, and/orcost advantages. Such integration is common in the Electronics industryand can provide additional advantages here.

In many cases, for the systems described above, the transmitter andreceiver coils can be of similar, although not necessarily same sizesand are generally aligned laterally to be able to transfer powerefficiently. For coils of similar size, this would typically require theuser to place the device and/or receiver close to alignment with respectto the transmitter coil. For example, for a transmitter/receiver coil of30 mm diameter, this would require lateral (x,y) positioning within lessthan 30 mm so there is some degree of overlap between the coils. Inpractice, a considerable degree of overlap is necessary to achieve highoutput powers and efficiencies. This can be achieved by providingmechanical or other mechanisms such as indentations, protrusions, walls,holders, fasteners, to align the parts.

In accordance with an embodiment, for a universal charger/power supplyto be useful for charging or powering a range of devices, a design ableto accept any device and receiver is desirable. For this reason, inaccordance with an embodiment, a flat or somewhat curved charger/powersupply surface that can be used with any type of receiver can be used.To achieve alignment in this case, markings, small protrusions orindentations and/or audio and/or visual aids or similar methods can beused. Other methods include use of magnets, or magnet(s) and magnetic orferrite magnetic attractor material(s) that can be attracted to a magnetin the transmitter/charger and receiver. In these methods, typically asingle charger/transmitter and receiver are in close proximity andaligned to each other.

However, for even greater ease of use, it is desirable to be able toplace the device to be charged/powered over a larger area, withoutrequiring precise alignment of coils.

Several methods that address the topic of position independence havebeen described previously. For example, as described in U.S. PatentPublication No. 20070182367 and U.S. Patent Publication No. 20090096413,both of which applications are herein incorporated by reference, anembodiment comprising multiple transmitter coils arranged in atwo-dimensional array to cover and fill the transmitter surface isdescribed. When a receiver is placed on the surface of such a coilarray, the transmitter coil with the largest degree of overlap with thereceiver is detected and activated to allow optimum power transmissionand position independent operation. The detection can be providedthrough, e.g. detection of weight, capacitive, optical, mechanical,magnetic RFID, RF, or electrical sensing of the receiver.

In accordance with an embodiment, the coils in the charger/power supplyare sequentially powered (pinged) and the charger/power supply waits forany potentially nearby receivers to be powered up and to reply to theping. If no reply is detected back within a time window, the next coilis activated, until a reply is detected in which case the charger/powersupply initiates power up of the appropriate transmitter coil(s) andproceeds to charge/power the receiver.

In another geometry, each transmitter (or charger) coil center includesa sensor inductor (e.g., as described by E. Waffenschmidt, and ToineStaring, 13th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications,Barcelona, 2009. EPE '09. pp. 1-10). The receiver coil includes a softmagnetic shield material that shifts the resonance frequency response ofthe system and can be sensed by a sensor in the transmitter to switchthe appropriate coil on. The drawback of this system is that threelayers of overlapping coils with a sensor and detection circuit at thecenter of each is required, adding to the complexity and cost of thesystem. Other variations of the above or a combination of techniques canbe used to detect the appropriate transmitter coil.

In accordance with other embodiments, such as those described in U.S.Patent Publication No. 20070182367 and U.S. Patent Publication No.20090096413, the charger or power supply can contain one or moretransmitter coils that are suspended and free to move laterally in thex-y plane behind the top surface of the charger/power supply. When areceiver coil is placed on the charger/power supply, the closesttransmitter coil would move laterally to position itself to be under andaligned with the receiver coil.

One passive method of achieving this can be to use magnets or acombination of magnet(s) and attractor(s) (one or more attached to thetransmitter coil or the movable charging component and one or more tothe receiver coil or receiver) that would attract and passively alignthe two coils appropriately.

In accordance with another embodiment, a system that detects theposition of the receiver coil on the charger/power supply surface anduses this information to move the transmitter coil to the appropriatelocation actively using motors, piezo or other actuators, is possible.

In general, the systems described above generally use coils that are ofsimilar size/shape and in relatively close proximity to create awireless power system. However, in accordance with various embodiments,dissimilar size coils can be used.

As described above, the coupling coefficient k is an important factor indesign of the wireless power system. In general, wireless power systemscan be categorized into two types. One category which is calledtightly-coupled operates in a parameter space where the k value istypically 0.5 or larger. This type of system is characterized by coilsthat are typically similar in size and/or spatially close together indistance (z axis) and with good lateral (x,y) overlap. This so calledtightly-coupled system is typically associated with high coil powertransfer efficiencies defined here as the ratio of output power from thereceiver coil to input power to transmitter coil. The methods describedabove for position independent operation (array of transmitter coils andmoving coils), typically may use tightly-coupled coils.

In contrast, for coils of dissimilar size or design or largertransmitter to receiver distance or smaller lateral coil overlap, thesystem coupling coefficient is lower. Another important parameter, thequality factor of a transmitter (tx) and receiver (rx) coil is definedas:Q _(tx)=2πfL _(tx) /R _(tx)Q _(rx)=2πfL _(rx) /R _(rx)where f is the frequency of operation, L_(tx) and L_(rx) the inductancesof the transmitter and receiver coils and R_(tx) and R_(rx) theirrespective resistances. The system quality factor can be calculated asfollows:Q=(Q _(tx) ·Q _(rx))^(1/2)

In general, the loosely-coupled systems may have smaller power transferefficiencies. However, it can be shown (e.g., E. Waffenschmidt,referenced above) that an increase of Q can compensate for smaller kvalues, and reasonable or similar power transfer efficiencies can beobtained. Such systems with dissimilar coil sizes and higher Q valuesare sometimes referred to as Resonant Coupled or Resonant systems.However, resonance is also often used in the case of similar-size coilsystems.

Others, (such as André Kurs, Aristeidis Karalis, Robert Moffatt, J. D.Joannopoulos, Peter Fisher, and Marin Soljac, Science, 317, P. 83-86,2007) have shown that with systems with k of <0.2 due to large distancebetween coils (up to 225 cm), sizeable reported power transferefficiencies of 40%-70% can be obtained. Other types of loosely-coupledsystem appear to use mis-matched coils where the transmitter coil ismuch larger than the receiver coil (e.g., J. J. Casanova, Z. N. Low, J.Lin, and Ryan Tseng, in Proceedings of Radio Wireless Symposium, 2009,pp. 530-533 and J. J. Casanova, Z. N. Low, and J. Lin, IEEE Transactionson Circuits and Systems—II: Express Briefs, Vol. 56, No. 11, November2009, pp. 830-834).

Some references (e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,906,495, 7,239,110, 7,248,017,and 7,042,196) describe a loosely-coupled system for charging multipledevices whereby a magnetic field parallel to the plane of the charger isused. In these instances, the receiver contains a coil that is typicallywrapped around a magnetic material such as a rectangular thin sheet andhas an axis parallel to the plane of the charger. To allow the chargerto operate with the receiver rotated to any angle, two sets of coilscreating magnetic fields parallel to the plane of the charger at 90degrees to each other and driven out of phase are used.

Such systems may have a larger transmitter coil and a smaller receivercoil and operate with a small k value (possibly between 0 and 0.5depending on coil size mismatch and gap between coils/offset of coils).Of course the opposite case of a small transmitter coil and largerreceiver coil is also possible.

FIG. 11 shows configurations 220 for a tightly-coupled power transfersystem with two individual transmitter coils of different size poweringa laptop and a phone (left, 222) and a loosely-coupled wireless powersystem with a large transmitter coil powering two smaller receiver coilsin mobile phones (right, 224), in accordance with an embodiment.

An ideal system with largely mis-matched (i.e. dissimilar in size/shape)coils can potentially have several advantages:

-   -   Power can be transferred to the receiver coil placed anywhere on        the transmitter coil.    -   Several receivers can be placed and powered on one transmitter        allowing for simpler and lower cost of transmitter.    -   The system with higher Q can be designed so the gap between the        transmitter and receiver coil can be larger than a        tightly-coupled system leading to design of systems with more        design freedom. In practice, power transfer in distances of        several cm or even higher have been demonstrated.    -   Power can be transferred to multiple receivers simultaneously.        In addition, the receivers can potentially be of differing power        rating or be in different stages of charging or require        different power levels and/or voltages.

In order to achieve the above characteristics and to achieve high powertransfer efficiency, the lower k value is compensated by using a higherQ through design of, e.g., lower resistance coils. The power transfercharacteristics of these systems may differ from tightly-coupled systemsand other power drive geometries such as class E amplifier or ZeroVoltage Switching (ZVS) or Zero Current Switching (ZCS) or other powertransfer systems may operate more efficiently in these situations. Inaddition, impedance matching circuits at the charger/transmitter and/orreceiver may be required to enable these systems to provide power over arange of load values and output current conditions. General operation ofthe systems can, however be quite similar to the tightly-coupled systemsand one or more capacitors in series or parallel with the transmitterand/or receiver coil is used to create a tuned circuit that may have aresonance for power transfer. Operating near this resonance point,efficient power transfer across from the transmitter to the receivercoil can be achieved. Depending on the size difference between the coilsand operating points, efficiencies of over 50% up to near 80% have beenreported.

To provide more uniform power transfer across a coil, methods to providea more uniform magnetic field across a coil can be used. One method forachieving this uses a hybrid coil comprising a combination of a wire andPCB coils (e.g., X. Liu and S. Y. R. Hui, “Optimal design of a hybridwinding structure for planar contactless battery charging platform,”IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 455-463,2008). In another method, the transmitter coil is constructed of Litzwire and has a pattern that is very wide between successive turns at thecenter and is more tightly wound as one gets closer to the edges (e.g.,J. J. Casanova, Z. N. Low, J. Lin, and R. Tseng, “Transmitting coilachieving uniform magnetic field distribution for planar wireless powertransfer system,” in Proceedings of the IEEE Radio and WirelessSymposium, pp. 530-533, January 2009).

FIG. 12 shows a coil 230 demonstrated therein, while FIG. 13 shows theresulting calculated magnetic field 240.

In a geometry described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 20080067874, aplanar spiral inductor coil is demonstrated, wherein the width of theinductor's trace becomes wider as the trace spirals toward the center ofthe coil to achieve a more uniform magnetic field allowing morepositioning flexibility for a receiver across a transmitter surface. Inyet other embodiments (F. Sato, et al., IEEE Digest of Intermag 1999,PP. GR09, 1999), the coil can be a meandering type of coil wherein thewire is stretched along X or Y direction and then folds back and makes aback and forth pattern to cover the surface.

In accordance with an embodiment, the charger can operate continuously,and any appropriate receiver coil placed on or near its surface willbring it to resonance and will begin receiving power. The regulation ofpower to the output can be performed through a regulation stage and/ortuning of the resonant circuit at the receiver. Advantages of such asystem include that multiple receivers with different power needs can besimultaneously powered in this way. The receivers can also havedifferent output voltage characteristics.

To achieve this, in accordance with an embodiment, the number of turnson the receiver coil can be changed to achieve different receiver outputvoltages. Without any receivers nearby, such a charger would not be inresonance and would draw minimal power. Once one or more receivers areplaced on the charger, the system resonance is shifted and powertransfer would initiate. In accordance with an embodiment, at end ofcharge, the receiver can also include a switch that will detect theminimal current draw by a device connected to the receiver, anddisconnect the output altogether and/or disconnect the receiver coil sothat the receiver is no longer drawing power. This would bring thecharger out of resonance and minimal input current would be drawn atthis stage.

In accordance with another embodiment, the charger can periodically pingfor receivers, and initiate and maintain power transfer if sufficientcurrent draw from a receiver is detected. Otherwise, the charger canreturn to standby and continue pinging. Such a system would have evenlower stand-by power usage.

In a more complex system, similar communication and control and/orreceiver detection as described for the tightly-coupled situationearlier can be applied for such loosely-coupled systems. However, awireless power system designed to power multiple receivers placed on asingle transmitter may need to regulate the power transfer and thevoltage at each receiver differently depending on the status of theload/device to which the power is being delivered.

In accordance with another embodiment, in instances where multiplereceivers are placed on one transmitter coil and it is desired topower/charge all devices, all of the receivers may try to communicatewith the transmitter, and the transmitter should distinguish betweenreceivers and operate differently (e.g. at different power level, orswitching frequency) with each one. Since the transmitter coil emitspower to all the receivers, it may be difficult to regulate powerdelivered to each receiver differently. Therefore in a practical system,some degree of regulation of power to be delivered to a load or devicecan be performed in the receiver circuitry.

In another method of regulation, each receiver can time-share thetransmitter power. Each receiver placed on a transmitter can synchronizeand communicate with the transmitter and/or with other receivers throughwireless RF communication or RFID or Near Field Communication,Bluetooth, WiFi, Zigee, wireless usb or other protocols or communicationthrough power transfer and/or separate coils or through optical or othermethods. The transmitter can then power each receiver sequentially anddeliver the appropriate power level through adjustment of thetransmitter frequency, pulse width modulation, or adjustment of inputvoltage, or a combination of above methods. In order for this system tooperate, it may be necessary for all or some of the receivers todisconnect from receipt of power during the time period when onereceiver is receiving power. This can be accomplished by implementingand opening a switch in the path of the receiver coil circuit ordisabling the receiver's output or its associated optional regulator oralike. In this way, only one receiver coil (or more depending on designand architecture) is at any given time magnetically coupled to thetransmitter and receives power. After some period of time, that receivermay be disconnected by opening its appropriate switch and the nextreceiver powered. Alternatively, one or more receivers can be powered atthe same time. In this case, the receivers may need to share theavailable power so, for example, while with one receiver 5 W of outputpower may be available, with 2 receivers, each can only output only 2.5W. This may be acceptable in many charging and/or power applications.

In any practical system, in addition to the power transfer andcommunication system, appropriate electromagnetic shielding of thetransmitter and receiver is necessary and may be similar or different tothe tightly-coupled systems.

The ratio of the size of the transmitter coil to the receiver coil canbe decided depending on design considerations such as the desired numberof receivers to be powered/charged at any given time, the degree ofpositioning freedom needed or the physical size of device beingcharged/powered. In the case that the transmitter coil is designed to beof a size to accommodate one receiver at a time, the transmitter andreceiver coils can be of similar size thereby bringing theloosely-coupled system to the tightly-coupled limit in this case.

While the loosely-coupled system may have distinct advantages and insome ways may overcome the complexities of the multiple coil/moving coilsystems employed in tightly-coupled systems to achieve positionindependence, traditional systems suffer from several issues, forexample:

-   -   Since a large area transmitter coil and smaller receiver coil        may be used, Electromagnetic emission in areas of the        transmitter coil not covered by the receiver coil is present.        This emission is in the near field and drops rapidly away from        the coil. Nevertheless, it can have adverse effects on devices        and/or people in the vicinity of the transmitter.    -   The receiver may be incorporated or attached to electronic and        electrical devices or batteries that often contain metallic        components and/or circuits and/or parts/shells. Such metallic        sections that are not shielded may absorb the emitted        electromagnetic (EM) field from the transmitter and create        destructive and undesirable eddy currents and/or heating in        these parts.    -   The electromagnetic field emitted may also affect the operation        of the device being powered or charged or even nearby devices        that are not on the transmitter/charger. Such interference with        device operation/reception or a drop in sensitivity of a radio        transmitter/receiver (desense) is quite important in design of        mobile or electronic devices such as mobile phones or        communication devices. To avoid this effect, the portions of the        device being charged or powered that may be exposed to the EM        field with the exception of the receiver coil area may need to        be shielded causing severe restrictions on the device design and        affecting operation of other antennas or wireless components in        the device.    -   In many situations, an after-market or optional receiver such as        a case, skin, carrier, battery or attachment with a receiver        built in is desired to enable a mobile or electronic/electric        device to be powered or charged wirelessly. To shield the entire        device from EM radiation at locations beside the receiver coil,        such an after-market or optional receiver will require shielding        in all other locations of the device thereby severely limiting        the design and choices in after-market products possible. For        example, a battery with a built in receiver circuit and        shielding may not be sufficient to protect a mobile device to be        charged wirelessly. For example, in the case of a mobile phone,        such a battery would cover only a small area of a mobile phone's        back's surface area leaving the rest of the phone exposed to EM        radiation which could have serious effects on its performance        and operation. Furthermore, the shielding may affect the        performance of the device and its multiple wireless components.    -   Metallic objects such as keys or coins or electronic devices or        cameras that contain metal backs or circuits containing metals        or other metal that are placed on a charger/transmitter may        affect the operation of the transmitter and draw power from it        due to eddy currents. This may result in excessive heating of        such objects that is highly undesirable.    -   The EM field emitted from the transmitter further may be        sufficiently physically close to a user as to be affecting and        incident on the user. Such exposure to EM radiation may result        in unwanted or unacceptable levels of exposure.    -   Many regulatory guidelines regarding the safe exposure limits        for human and electrical/electronic device operation exists and        awareness and concern regarding this issue is increasing. Any        unnecessary exposure from an uncovered and operating area of a        transmitter is highly undesirable.    -   A substantial amount of power from the transmitter may be lost        from the area that is not physically covered by the receiver        leading to lower efficiencies and wastage of power.    -   To capture the most amount of power and to achieve higher        efficiencies, the receiver coil area should be maximized. This        often leads to a larger receiver coil area than tightly-coupled        implementations.

It is therefore desired to benefit from the advantages of aloosely-coupled system while minimizing or avoiding problems related toit.

In accordance with embodiments described previously in U.S. PatentPublication No. 20120235636, embodiments are described therein wherebythrough appropriate design of the system, and use of two techniquesreferred to therein as Magnetic Aperture (MA) and Magnetic Coupling (MC)respectively, the benefits of the use of a mismatched (in size) coilsystem can be retained, while overcoming the problems and issues raisedabove, leading to ideal systems for wireless power transfer.

As described above, a position independent system can be implemented byuse of a large area transmitter coil upon which a smaller receiver coilcan be placed on a variety or any location and receive power.

Typically, a system such as shown in FIG. 2 includes capacitors inseries and/or parallel with the transmitter and/or receiver coils toprovide a resonant circuit that shows strong power transfercharacteristics at particular frequencies. (e.g., S. Y. Hui, H. S. HChung, and S. C. Tang, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 14,pp. 422-430 (1999), which shows an analysis method for such a system).Using values of L1=46 pH for the transmitter coil and L2=4 pH for thereceiver (based on a 16 cm×18 cm 13-turn transmitter coil and a 4 cm×5cm, 6-turn receiver coil (J. Casanova, Z. N. Low, and J. Lin, IEEETrans. On Circuits and Systems—II, Express Briefs, Vol. 56, pp. 830-834(2009)), and using 12 nF for the receiver capacitance, the impedance tothe input supply of the transmitter can be calculated as shown in FIG.14, showing the resonance in power transfer 250.

In practice, a transmitter operating on or near resonance frequency doesnot draw much power until a receiver of appropriate inductance andcapacitance is nearby thereby shifting its operating point and bringingit into resonance at which point, significant power can be drawn fromthe transmitter supply and enabling large power transfer and high powertransfer efficiencies. However, as described above, a large areatransmitter typically would also then emit power into areas not coveredby the receiver coil, which could cause EMI and accompanying healthissues.

In accordance with embodiments described previously in U.S. PatentPublication No. 20120235636, the techniques described therein allowoperation of a position-independent power transfer system, whilereducing or eliminating undesirable radiation from other areas of thetransmitter coil.

In accordance with one embodiment described earlier, a large transmittercoil and smaller receiver coil or coils similar to a loosely-coupledsystem are used. However, to reduce or eliminate radiation from thetransmitter coil, the transmitter coil is covered with a thin softmagnetic layer.

FIG. 15 illustrates magnetization curves 260 of a number ofFerromagnetic materials. They include 1. Sheet steel, 2. Silicon steel,3. Cast steel, 4. Tungsten steel, 5. Magnet steel, 6. Cast iron, 7.Nickel, 8. Cobalt, and 9. Magnetite. In the linear regime of operation,the magnetic field strength H is related to the magnetic flux density Bthrough the permeability of the material μ:B=μH+Mwhere M is the magnetization of a material. Each of B, H, and M arevectors, and μ is a scalar in isotropic materials and a tensor inanisotropic ones. In anisotropic materials, it is therefore possible toaffect the magnetic flux in one direction with a magnetic field appliedin another direction. The permeability of Ferromagnetic materials is theslope of the curves shown in FIG. 15 and is not constant, but depends onH. In Ferromagnetic or Ferrite materials as shown in FIG. 15, thepermeability increases with H to a maximum, then as it approachessaturation it decreases by orders of magnitude toward one, the value ofpermeability in vacuum or air. Briefly, the mechanism for thisnonlinearity or saturation is as follows: for a magnetic materialincluding domains, with increasing external magnetic field, the domainsalign with the direction of the field (for an isotropic material) andcreate a large magnetic flux density proportional to the permeabilitytimes the external magnetic field. As these domains continue to align,beyond a certain value of magnetic field, the domains are allpractically aligned and no further increase in alignment is possiblereducing the permeability of the material by orders of magnitude closerto values in vacuum or air.

Different materials have different saturation levels. For example, highpermeability iron alloys used in transformers reach magnetic saturationat 1.6-2.2 Tesla (T), whereas ferromagnets saturate at 0.2-0.5 T. One ofthe Metglass amorphous alloys saturates at 1.25 T. The magnetic field(H) required to reach saturation can vary from 100 A/m or lower to1000's of A/m. Many materials that are typically used in transformercores include materials described above, soft iron, Silicon steel,laminated materials (to reduce eddy currents), Silicon alloyedmaterials, Carbonyl iron, Ferrites, Vitreous metals, alloys of Ni, Mn,Zn, Fe, Co, Gd, and Dy, nano materials, and many other materials insolid or flexible polymer or other matrix that are used in transformers,shielding, or power transfer applications. Some of these materials maybe appropriate for applications in various embodiments described herein.

FIG. 16 illustrates a hysteresis curve 270 for a hard ferromagneticmaterial such as steel. As the magnetic field is increased, the magneticflux saturates at some point, therefore no longer following the linearrelation above. If the field is then reduced and removed, in some media,some value of B called the remanence (Br) remains, giving rise to amagnetized behavior. By applying an opposite field, the curve can befollowed to a region where B is reduced to zero. The level of H at thispoint is called the coercivity of the material.

Many magnetic shield layers comprise a soft magnetic material made ofhigh permeability ferromagnets or metal alloys such as large crystallinegrain structure Permalloy and Mu-metal, or with nanocrystalline grainstructure Ferromagnetic metal coatings. These materials do not block themagnetic field, as with electric shielding, but instead draw the fieldinto themselves, providing a path for the magnetic field lines aroundthe shielded volume. The effectiveness of this type of shieldingdecreases with the decrease of material's permeability, which generallydrops off at both very low magnetic field strengths, and also at highfield strengths where the material becomes saturated as described above.The permeability of a material is in general a complex number:μ=μ′+jμ″where μ′ and μ″ are the real and imaginary parts of the permeabilityproviding the storage and loss component of the permeabilityrespectively. FIG. 17 illustrates the magnetic field frequencydependence of the real and imaginary part of the permeability of aferromagnetic material layer 280.

FIG. 18 illustrates the magnetization curves 290 of a high permeability(real permeability ˜3300) proprietary soft magnetic ferrite material at25° C. and 100° C. temperature. Increase of temperature results in areduction in the Saturation Flux density. But at either temperature,saturation of the flux density B with increasing H is clearly observed.A distinct reduction in the slope of B-H curve (i.e. materialpermeability) is observed at around 100 A/m and the reduction of thepermeability increases with H increase until the material permeabilityapproaches 1 at several hundred A/m. This particular material is MnZnbased and retains high permeability at up to 1 MHz of applied fieldfrequency but loses its permeability at higher frequencies. Materialsfor operation at other frequency ranges also exist. In general, MnZnbased materials can be used at lower frequency range while NiZn basedmaterials are used more at higher frequencies up to several hundred MHz.

In accordance with an embodiment, it is possible with appropriatematerial engineering and composition to optimize material parameters toobtain the desired real and imaginary permeabilities at any operatingfrequency and to also achieve the saturation magnetic field and behaviordesired.

Magnetic Coupling (MC) Geometry

In accordance with embodiments described in U.S. Patent Publication No.20120235636, a method is described therein for providingshielding/reducing the EM field emitted from the transmitter coil, whileat the same time providing a path for transfer of power from this fieldto a receiver coil placed arbitrarily on the surface of the transmitter.

To achieve this, in accordance with an embodiment illustrated in FIG.19, a large area transmitter coil (of wire, Litz wire, or PCB type, or acombination thereof) is covered by a ferromagnetic, ferrite, or othermagnetic material or layer that acts to guide, confine, and shield anyfield, due to its high permeability. Choosing the thickness of thematerial and its permeability and saturation properties, the magneticmaterial can reduce or shield the field in the area above thecharger/transmitter coil so that it is reduced by 2 orders of magnitudeor less compared to an otherwise similar geometry without the magneticlayer. Bringing a receiver coil with appropriate resonant capacitor inseries or parallel to the receiver coil, the field penetrating themagnetic layer can be collected, and localized power transfer whereverthe receiver coil is placed can be achieved.

In U.S. Patent Publication No. 20120235636, a charger coil similar toshown in FIG. 12 with a size of 18 cm×18 cm comprising Litz wire isdescribed as covered with a 0.5 mm thick sheet of material withproperties shown in FIG. 17. A circular receiver coil of 7 turns withinner radius 2 cm was placed on top of the charger surface/magneticlayer. This Magnetic Coupling (MC) geometry 320 is illustrated in FIG.20.

In accordance with an embodiment, the receiver circuit comprises aparallel or in series resonant capacitor, followed by a bridge orsynchronous rectifier and smoothing capacitors. Significant powertransfer was achieved with receiver coil at distances of several mm to2-3 cm from the charger surface. The power transfer and efficiencyincreased with introduction of a 0.5 mm thick ferrite magnetic materialor layer above the receiver coil to guide and shield the flux as shownin FIG. 20. The resonance of the charger/receiver circuit in this casewas important for operation of the MC configuration. The leakage fieldfrom the surface of the charger was reduced by using thicker or higherpermeability magnetic layer. Choosing the appropriate magnetic layer andreceiver shield/guide layer permeabilities and thicknesses can provide alow reluctance path for the magnetic flux to allow higher power transferand efficiencies while achieving sufficient field shielding at otherlocations of the charger. Power transfer of over 10 W at the output andDC-out to DC-in power transfer efficiencies of over 50% can be achievedin this MC configuration with several mm to 2-3 cm of charger/receivercoil vertical distance. Moving the MC receiver coil laterally across thesurface of the transmitter coil confirms that high power transfer andhigh efficiencies with good uniformity could be obtained across thetransmitter surface. The emission from other locations of the charger,where the receiver was not present, were monitored by a probe and shownto be lower by 2 orders of magnitude or more compared to similarlocations in a magnetic resonant charger with no magnetic layer. Due tothe high permeability of the ferrite layer, this fringing (leaking)field dies away rapidly from the top surface and should not causesignificant EMI issues away from the charger. No interference effectwith magnetic or non-magnetic metal sheets or ferrites placed on thecharger surface were observed, showing that the magnitude of the leakagefield from the surface is small and only couples well to the receiverdue to the resonant conditions produced by the receiver LC circuit. Alsoas expected, multiple receivers can be charged/powered simultaneously inthis MC geometry.

In accordance with the MC geometry, the reluctance of the flux path inthe receiver can be lowered by including high permeability material inthe core of the receiver ring coil (similar to a solenoid) or a T-shapecore or alike. Many geometries are possible and these geometries wereonly given as examples. Additionally, while Litz wire receiver coil wasused. PCB coils and/or a combination of Litz wire and PCB coil can alsobe used.

In accordance with an embodiment, to reduce the reluctance of the path,the receiver coil was created by using a flux guide material (such asferrite with permeability greater than 1) with an axis perpendicular (oran angle sufficient to catch the substantially perpendicular flux fromthe charger) to the surface of the charger.

As illustrated 330 in FIG. 21, in accordance with an embodiment, Litzwire can be wrapped around the core to create a solenoid type receiverwith a relatively small cross section (2 mm×10 or 20 mm) substantiallyparallel to the surface of the charger. In one example, the length ofthe solenoid height (along the direction perpendicular to the surface ofthe charger) was varied from 10 to 20 mm but can be shorter. Inaccordance with an embodiment, the flux guide layer can also be as thinas 0.5 mm or less, allowing use of a small volume receiver coil andshield. The typical number of turns on the receiver coil was 7 turns.Substantial power transfer (over 20 W) was received at resonance withthe receiver coil bottom on or within several cm of the surface of thecharger. Rotating the angle of the solenoid with respect to theperpendicular direction to the surface to the charger produced largepower transfers confirming that as long as some component of the chargerflux is along the axis of the coil, efficient power transfer can beobtained. Minimal leakage power from other areas of the charger surfacewas observed and position free and multiple receiver operation can beobtained as expected.

In accordance with an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 21, optionally, anadditional shield/guide layer on the top of the receiver and on thebottom of the charger can also be added. Such a solenoid with a magneticflux guide can be constructed to also have a larger area parallel to thesurface of the charger approximating the embodiment in FIG. 20 but witha flux guide layer in the middle of the coil. In this case, the height(along the length perpendicular to the surface of the charger) can bequite short (1-2 mm or less). Use of the flux guide and a smaller crosssection parallel to the surface of the charger as shown in FIG. 21 mayalso be important for applications where small areas for the sections ofreceiver in the plane of the charger are available. Examples can bedevices such as phones, or batteries or 3-d or communicationglasses/phones that are longer in 1 or 2 dimensions and would be stoodor laid down substantially on their ends or sides to receiver powerwirelessly.

In accordance with another embodiment, similar to FIG. 21, a magneticshield/guide layer was placed under (bottom of) the charger coil, andthe receiver comprised a coil with vertically placed ferrite material;however the magnetic switching layer shown in FIG. 21 was omitted. Inthis case, it was observed that while the area ratio between the chargersurface and the receiver coil area in parallel to the charger surfacewas 50 or more to one, efficient power transfer from the charger to thereceiver can be achieved. This is due to the strong tendency of the fluxgenerated by the charger to channel to the receiver coil location,rather than flow in areas in contact with air. In this manner, positionfreedom and high efficiency power transfer over a large area can beachieved.

As described previously, in accordance with an embodiment therein thecharger/transmitter also can include magnetic flux guide layer/shield atthe bottom of the charger as shown in FIGS. 20 and 21 so that emissionsfrom the bottom of the charger/transmitter are reduced and magnetic fluxis guided. In yet another embodiment described therein, metal layerswere also included on the top of the receiver shield and/or the bottomof the charger/transmitter shield to provide further shielding from themagnetic field.

For a transmitter coil of geometry in FIG. 12 with several A of currentin the coil (currents used here), the incident magnetic field isestimated to be in the 100 A/m² to several 100 A/m² range (see FIG. 13).Care should be taken so that the magnetic material is chosen such thatmagnetic saturation does not occur. However, in the region of powertransfer between the charger and the transmitter coil the magnetic fieldis enhanced by the resonance and the Quality Factor (Q) of the systemand a much larger magnetic field may be present. As describedpreviously, in these tests, the Q of the system was about 30. Thus itmay be possible that in the power transfer location under the receivercoil, the magnetic layer can experience saturation and reduction ofpermeability to provide a more efficient path for the flux from thecharger coil to transmit to the receiver coil above and increased powertransfer and efficiencies. By choosing magnetic layers with appropriatesaturation field values, this effect was used to benefit as describedabove.

Magnetic Aperture (MA) Geometry

In accordance with another embodiment described in U.S. PatentPublication No. 20120235636, a Magnetic Aperture (MA) can be created ina magnetic shield or ferromagnetic layer at any desired location, sothat the magnetic field confined in such a layer at that location isefficiently coupled to a receiver coil and can provide power transfer tosuch a receiver. At any other location on the transmitter coil, theconfinement of the field prevents or reduces unnecessary radiation,thereby providing low EMI and adverse health and interference effects.

Several methods to enable local change (switching) of thecharacteristics of the ferromagnetic material in the MA geometry aredescribed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 20120235636. In accordance withan embodiment described therein, the local characteristics of theferromagnetic, ferrite, or other magnetic material or layer were alteredby saturating the layer through application of a DC and/or AC magneticfield such as through a permanent magnet or electromagnet, or acombination thereof. For example, a magnet or electromagnet can beincorporated behind, in front, around or at the center of the receivercoil or a combination thereof such that it has sufficient magnetic fieldto saturate or alter the magnetization curve of the ferromagnet layerlocally on or near where the receiver coil is placed.

Examples of magnets that were used include, e.g. one or more disc,square, rectangular, oval, curved, ring (e.g., 340 in FIG. 22), or anyother shape of magnet and combination thereof and with appropriatemagnetization orientation and strength that can provide sufficient DC orAC magnetic field to shift the operating position of the magnetizationcurve (as shown in FIG. 15 or 18), so that the combination of thetransmitter coil, the affected ferromagnet layer and the receiver coilmove to a resonance condition at a given frequency for power transfer.

As illustrated in FIG. 23, in accordance with an embodiment of MA, byincorporating a permanent (and/or electromagnet) into the receiver infront, and/or behind and/or at the level of the receiver coil (on theoutside and/or inside of the coil), and bringing the receiver close tothe charger surface, at this point, a local ‘magnetic aperture’ isopened up in the ferromagnetic, ferrite, or other magnetic material orlayer, allowing the transmitter coil's electromagnetic field to betransmitted through this local aperture without affecting any areasnearby.

In this manner, by reducing the permeability of the ferromagnet layerlocally through saturation or reduction with the DC and/or AC field orother means, one can establish at what location the power and energycoupling should occur while keeping the field confined in other areas.The magnetic or ferrite material layer is here therefore alsoalternatively called a switching layer. This layer acts as both areservoir and/or guide layer of AC magnetic flux (for power transfer)and a switching layer.

This embodiment can be used to meet the goal of simultaneouslytransferring power efficiently to a receiver at any desired locationwhile keeping the field from emitting at other locations and causingproblems. At the same time, since the magnetic field created from theentire surface of the charger coil is directed or guided towards themagnetic aperture created, this provides an effect analogous tofunneling the power to this magnetic aperture area and an efficientmethod for transfer of power to an arbitrarily positioned receiver isachieved.

In FIG. 23, as described previously, the receiver can also include anouter surface or case. Such a surface or case would be typically locatedbetween the receiver coil and the charger surface parts, as shown inFIG. 23.

FIG. 24 provides an illustrative method of understanding the behavior360 of the systems described previously. Magnetization curves of a softferrite material are shown at different operating temperatures. The ACmagnetic field generated by the wireless charger/power supply coil isalso shown in two regions of operation (shielded region and the magneticaperture region). Most of the surface area of the ferrite layer has noreceiver on it and operates in the shielded region with highpermeability guiding and shielding the AC magnetic field generated bythe charger/power supply coil in the transmitter from the outside. Inthe magnetic aperture region (where the receiver and the switchingmagnet is), the DC (and/or AC) magnet acts as a bias to move theoperating point from around the vertical axis where the material hashigh permeability and confines and guides the magnetic field to a regionwhere the material is saturated and has a low permeability creating amagnetic aperture for coupling to a receiver coil nearby causingefficient power transfer. The magnetic field required for saturating theswitching material (the magnetic switching field) can be easily createdby many types of commonly available magnets that can generate up toseveral 100's of A/m or more of magnetic field easily saturating manyferrite materials.

FIG. 25 is another representation 370 of the variation of thepermeability with applied magnetic field showing the initial increase ofpermeability at low magnetic fields and then decrease with increasedvalues.

As can be seen above, the MC and MA approaches described in U.S. PatentPublication No. 20120235636 utilize the nonlinear behavior of ferritematerial to act as an active switch to provide power transfer only indesired locations. Permeability is an inherent material property of amagnetic material and the response time of the material is only limitedby domain movements and can be in nano seconds or faster depending onthe material. It is therefore one of the advantages of this system thatthe device responds almost instantaneously, and, if a receiver is movedon the surface, a new aperture is created and shielding is restored atall other locations almost instantaneously.

In comparison, other wireless charger systems such as those that usecoil arrays, moving coils, etc. have a slow response to such movementdue to time lag related to mechanical movement of coil and/or electronicdetection and reconfiguration of an electronic system.

Furthermore, multiple receivers (with switching magnets) can be placedon or near the charger surface to create multiple magnetic apertures forcoupling of power to multiple receivers while maintaining shielding andlow electromagnetic emission at all other locations providing a simpleto use, efficient multi-charger system.

In accordance with an embodiment, to provide shielding from the magneticfield at locations below the transmitter coil (the side opposite to thecharging/power side of the transmitter) and above the receiver coil (onthe side of the coil that may be in close contact with a device,battery, or electrical part being powered or charged wirelessly),further shielding layers such as ferromagnet and/or metallic layers canalso optionally be added below the transmitter coil and/or above thereceiver coil as necessary. Furthermore, these layers can be integratedinto the coil design (such as metal shield layers integrated into a PCBmulti-layer design that includes a PCB coil). The choice of material andthickness can be chosen such that even though a magnet in the receivercan be used to saturate (switch) the top layer of the transmitter (theswitching layer), the permeability of the shield layers would not beaffected.

For example, the switchable layer in the charger can comprise materialwith low saturation field values while the other shield layers in thecharger and/or receiver have higher saturation field values. Examples ofmaterials to use for these shields can be sheets or other shapes ofmaterial such as ferrites, nano materials, powder iron (Hydrogen ReducedIron), Carbonyl Iron, Vitreous Metal (amorphous), soft Iron, laminatedSilicon Steel, Steel, etc. or other material used in transformer coreapplications where high permeability and saturation flux densities aswell as low eddy current heating due to conductivity at frequency ofoperation is required.

Lamination has also been used in many applications of transformers toreduce eddy current heating. To avoid saturating the ferrite shield fromthe switching magnet in the receiver, the shield can also be multi-layeror other structures can be used. For example, in an embodiment describedpreviously, a thin high saturation flux density layer (of, e.g.,powdered Iron or steel) can be placed behind the switching magnet (asshown in FIG. 23) to shield from the switching magnet field with anotheroptional ferrite layer of other characteristics such as higherpermeability or operation at the AC magnetic field frequency above that.Thus the high saturation flux density layer will shield the highpermeability layer from the saturating effects of the magnet and allowit to guide and shield the AC magnetic field effectively.

In accordance with another embodiment described previously, the highsaturation shield layer is formed or manufactured to have a shape anddimensions to fit the magnet's switching magnetic field pattern toshield the field from it and allow the AC power magnetic field from thecharger that is coming through the created magnetic aperture to extendupwards (in FIG. 23) to another shield or ferrite layer with differentcharacteristics. For example, in the geometry of FIG. 23, if a ring typeof switching magnet is used, the high saturation shield material can bering shaped with appropriate dimensions and placed behind (atop in FIG.23) of the magnet to shunt or reduce the field from the magnet and asheet of ferrite is placed on top of the high saturation shield layer toguide and shield the AC magnetic power transfer flux coming through thecenter of the coil as shown in FIG. 23. Many combinations of the abovetechniques and materials have been described previously in the receiverand charger to best optimize performance and these embodiments were onlygiven as examples.

The overall geometry 380 described in U.S. Patent Publication No.20120235636 of the MA for operation with the switchable layer and thereceiver and magnet is shown in FIG. 26 for two receivers of dissimilarsize and possibly power ratings and/or voltage outputs. FIG. 23 shows asimplified side view of a wireless power system in accordance with anembodiment, showing a charger (transmitter) and receiver coil, switchinglayer, and switching magnet. In this instance, a ring switching magnetis shown and the coils are described as circular ring coils forsimplicity. However, in accordance with other embodiments, othergeometries and designs can be used to achieve similar results. Forexample, as described above, the coil can be configured to achieve amore uniform field pattern and/or the magnet can be of a different shapeand magnetization orientation. In addition, the magnet can be placed infront of, behind, or on the same plane as the coil and/or the coils canbe made of wires, PCB, free standing metal parts or a combinationthereof or other geometries and materials.

In accordance with various embodiments, methods and processes aredescribed to increase the efficiency and vertical operating distance(charger coil to receiver coil gap) of wireless charger systems. Inaddition, these embodiments provide more flexibility in design ofwireless charger systems.

As described previously, several methods to allow positioning freedom ofone or more receivers on a wireless charger system have been developed.Broadly, as described above, they include the loosely-coupled(alternatively known as magnetic resonance in some literature), MagneticCoupling, and Magnetic Aperture technologies. While much attention hasbeen paid to the coil structure and in MC and MA geometries to themagnetic or ferrite switching layer covering the charger, the shieldlayer above the receiver coil and below the charger coil beyondshielding the device or outer environment can also play an importantrole. In accordance with an embodiment, the system described here canuse these layers beneficially to enhance the performance of the wirelesscharger systems.

Wireless Charging System with Enhanced Performance Using Flux Guiding

FIG. 27 illustrates a transformer geometry 390 where a common magneticcore has a primary and secondary wire winding wrapped around its twosections. The ac current passing through the primary winding creates analternating magnetic flux that is well contained in the highpermeability material of the core and travels to the core section at thecenter of the secondary winding where it creates an induced voltage. Thenumber of the windings in the primary and secondary define the step down(or step up) voltage ratio of the transformer which essentially acts asan impedance matching network stepping down (or up) the voltage whilestepping up (or down) the current. For the transformer to operateefficiently, the flux path (or magnetic circuit) should minimize loss ofthe magnetic energy. The concept of magnetic reluctance, which isanalogous to resistance in electrical circuitry, has been created tohelp analyze the performance of magnetic structures and transformersincluding varied magnetic and non-magnetic material and spacers or air.

A variation of the basic transformer that is often used is the E-Core orER-Core (rounded E-core) transformer, where an additional middle fluxcarrying section is included. For example, FIG. 28 illustrates a view ofa transformer 400 comprising two ER-Cores (rounded E-Core). The primarywinding generates a flux in the central section that is carried by andsplits into two paths that return and surround the winding on theoutside. An exploded view of the same transformer is shown in FIG. 28,illustrating the two ER-Cores 410 more clearly.

E-Core transformers are also used in planar transformers, where to savespace it is common to provide the windings as flat PCB coils. FIG. 29illustrates a view of a transformer 420 including an E-Core and a flatsection and PCB primary and secondary coils. The primary windinggenerates a flux in the central section that is carried by and splitsinto two paths that return and surround the winding on the outside. Theflux is then guided by the flat section back to the central section ofthe E-core. An exploded view of the same transformer is also shown inFIG. 29 showing the E-Core, the flat section and the windings 410 moreclearly.

In accordance with an embodiment, in the geometries described above, andfor other transformers, a variety of magnetic or ferrite materials canbe used to keep the flux contained in the core.

The MR, MC and MA wireless power systems have some similarities to thetransformers described. For example, the planar E-core transformer withplanar coils has similar flux patterns to those shown in FIGS. 20, 21and 23. The flux from the wireless charger systems shown in FIGS. 20,21, and 23 is focused only on the section where the receiver is present,and flows upwards through the receiver coil in these geometries, thenflows outward before closing on itself below the charger coil. Theoptional magnetic shields at the top of the receiver and below thecharger not only shield the environment from this magnetic flux butprovide a relatively low reluctance path for the flux to travel to closeupon itself. However since these layers are separated by a distance andthe charger shield is covered by another magnetic layer (switchinglayer), an efficient low reluctance path for return of flux is notprovided in these geometries. This may result in the flux leaking tosurrounding areas causing unnecessary interaction with metals anddevices nearby or resulting in unnecessary emissions or loss of powertransfer efficiency or power. In accordance with embodiments describedherein, several geometries where this return flux path is improved toallow the flux to be guided to return back to the charger are described.By application of these techniques, higher efficiencies and powertransfer and lower susceptibility to the gap between the charger andreceiver coils and lower undesirable emissions can be achieved greatlyenhancing the usefulness of wireless power and charger systems.

In accordance with an embodiment shown in FIG. 30 for an improvedMagnetic Resonance (MR) or loosely coupled geometry 440, the chargercoil transmits power to one or more receiver coils. The receiver has amagnetic shield/guide layer that extends in one or more dimensions overthe edge of the receiver coil. The charger coil also has a magneticshield/guide layer or surface under it that extends beyond the area ofthe coil in one or more dimensions. In this geometry, the flux from thereceiver coil has a low reluctance path to complete a flux loop, thusproviding for higher efficiencies, ability to operate at larger coil tocoil gaps and for lower emitted field to the surroundings.

In accordance with an embodiment to further facilitate coupling of themagnetic field to the receiver coil(s), the receiver system mayincorporate an additional magnetic material in the center of thereceiver coil such as shown in FIG. 30. This component may comprise thesame or different material that is used behind the receiver coil and itsproperties may be optimized for its particular use. As an example, solidor flexible Ferrite material with a desirable permeability can beincorporated. The core may only have the thickness of the PCB or Litzwire receiver coil and as such may have thickness of several tenths ofmillimeter and be of minimal thickness and weight. However incorporationof this core to the receiver coil may affect the receiver coilinductance, and considerably affect the efficiency and power handlingcapability of the system.

FIG. 30 shows the incorporation of a magnetic core to the central areaof a Flux Guide system. In accordance with other embodiments, themagnetic core can be added to the MR, MC, and MA receiver systemsdescribed earlier to similarly enhance their performance.

A representative top view of a receiver placed on the charger is shownin FIG. 31. As shown 442 therein, the receiver shield/flux guide layeris shown as extended in one dimension beyond the coil (in Y axis), andthe charger shield layer under the charger coil is extended in one ortwo dimensions so that, during operation, the flux generated by thecharger flows upwards, through the receiver coil, and is then guided inthe y direction as shown by the receiver flux guide layer, beforeflowing down through the charger shield/flux guide layer upon itself.The corresponding side view (looking from the left side of FIG. 31towards the center) is as shown in FIG. 30 above.

As described above, the MR geometry suffers from lack of confinement ofcharger flux thus resulting in large undesirable emissions,susceptibility to metal, and low efficiency. To overcome these effects,the MC and MA geometries have been described previously. FIG. 32 showsan improved MC geometry 450 where the charger coil is covered by amagnetic or switching layer and through build-up of magnetic fieldstrength in the area between the charger and one or more receiversoperating at resonance, the material is saturated locally at thislocation and confined efficient power transfer can be achieved. Byextending the area of the receiver and charger shields or flux guidelayers beyond the area of the charger coil in one dimension or more, alow reluctance path for the return magnetic flux is created. Thegeometry was tested with a 6×17 cm area Litz wire helical coil similarto the coil in FIG. 12 but contracted in the Y dimension.

A representative top view of a receiver placed on such a charger isshown 452 in FIG. 33. The corresponding side view (looking from the leftside of FIG. 33 towards the center) is as shown in FIG. 32 above.

In accordance with another embodiment as shown in FIG. 34, the MagneticAperture (MA) geometry can be combined with flux guide layers to providebetter flux paths. As shown in FIG. 34, to assist local flux flow fromthe charger to the receiver, a magnet can be added to the receiver,compared to the MC and flux guide geometry shown in FIG. 32. Thecorresponding top view for this embodiment would be similar to thatshown in FIG. 33 except that a switching magnet would be added to thereceiver. As described earlier, in accordance with various embodimentsthis magnet may have various shapes and sizes, to optimize the localsaturation of the switching layer.

As another example, FIG. 33 shows an example of the coil geometry 452used for a combined MC and flux guide geometry. This geometry is notunique and many other shapes and sizes can be used. As describedearlier, Litz wire, PCB coil or a combination of types of coils can beused. In a tested system, the charger coil was covered by a 0.5 mm thicklayer of ferrite material of 70×180 mm area (comprising tiles or wafersof ferrite) with relative real permeability values of around 1400 atfrequencies of below 1 MHz. The charger shield/flux guide layercomprised 0.5×120×200 mm layer of the same ferrite material (comprising50 mm×40 mm tiles or wafers of the material) separated from the coil by5 mm of vertical gap. The receiver was a Litz wire coil with 50×40 mmarea and 7 turns and had a receiver shield/flux guide layer of 0.5×50×90mm of same ferrite material attached directly above the coil.

To test the performance, the charger coil was attached to a resonantconverter (similar to the charger shown in FIG. 2) and the receiver coilwas connected to a parallel capacitor and a receiver circuit comprisingdiode rectifiers and smoothing capacitors. The resonant capacitor valueswere chosen to bring the 2 parts close to resonance around 160 kHz. TheDC input and output powers were monitored while the system was broughtclose to resonance from the high frequency side. High power transferefficiency (over 15 W) and efficiency (over 65% DC to DC efficiency) wasobtained while the receiver could be moved around in X and Y directionon the charger. It should be noted that it is not necessary for thereceiver coil to be completely on the charger coil to receive power. Itwas found that even partial overlap of the coils resulted in large powertransfer. Insensitivity of the charger to metal objects was confirmed byplacing metallic sheets on the charger surface confirming that MagneticCoupling (MC) method of operation was responsible for power transferwhile the charger top shield layer provided shielding of stray unwantedmagnetic fields.

The emitted near field magnetic pattern of the system was next mappedwith placing a 2 d magnetic field scanning table on top of the receiverand the output of the 2-D array of coils embedded in the table were fedto a spectrum analyzer. Tuning the spectrum analyzer to the fundamentalfrequency of operation during power transfer, a 2-D map of any strayunwanted emissions were mapped. The resulting signal was extremely smalland only a signal of several microvolts corresponding to very smallstray AC magnetic fields was observed over the receiver confirming thehigh degree of confinement and flux guiding in this structure.

Next the receiver was separated from the charger surface by up to 3 cmvertically (in the direction perpendicular to the surface of thecharger). Similar power transfer values with minimal loss of efficiency(by 2-3%) compared to the small coil to coil gap condition was observed.The stray emitted near field magnetic fields were similarly negligible.Thus by employing the flux guide layers in accordance with variousembodiments, high efficiencies, transferred power levels and coil tocoil gaps can be obtained with low emissions.

In accordance with an embodiment 464 shown in FIG. 35, two or morereceivers of same or different size can be placed on the charger toreceive power simultaneously. As described in the MA and MC geometry,multiple methods for controlling and regulating power output can beemployed in these embodiments.

Another embodiment 466 for larger charger surface area is shown in FIG.36. Here, on the top (the charger side), several coil areas with theirtops covered by ferrite switching shields are used. These active areasare intersperced with areas with no active coils or top shield. Thecharger has one or more lower flux guide layers to complete the fluxpath as shown in FIGS. 30-35. One or more receivers can be placed on thecharger to receive power. The voltage and power levels of the differentreceivers can be different. Thus the charger can be a universal positionfree system for multiple devices using different power, voltage andsizes.

In accordance with another embodiment 468, using only the flux guidetechniques described above, as shown in FIG. 37, the magnetic switchinglayer can be omitted, and multiple active charger coils used to toincrease the charger active area.

In the geometries described above with the receiver resonant capacitorconnected in parallel to the receiver coil it is observed that thereceiver output voltage is highly dependent on the current drawn by theoutput load. In accordance with an embodiment with the receiver resonantcapacitor connected in series with the receiver coil (as shown in FIGS.1-4), it is observed that very high degree of output voltage stabilitycan be obtained over a large voltage range.

FIG. 38 shows the output rectified voltage 470 from a receiver (with a100 nF series resonant capacitor and the flux guide layers as describedabove) as a function of charger or transmitter operating frequency fordifferent output currents (i.e. output load values). In this embodiment,the resonant converter of the charger is operated at the high frequencyslope of a gain peak such as the one shown in FIG. 14. Highertransmitted voltage (and power) is obtained at higher frequencies. Itcan be seen that the output voltage is remarkably constant for differentoutput currents at a fixed frequency. For example, at 153 kHz, theoutput voltage changes from 5 to 4 V for current output changing from 0A to 1 A. This improvement in stability allows easy regulation of theoutput voltage by several techniques. In an embodiment, the regulationcan be carried out simply by a linear, switching, or other regulator inthe output stage. In another embodiment, this regulation can beaccomplished with changing the frequency, duty cycle or input voltage ofthe charger through communication between the receiver and charger asdescribed earlier whereby the receiver transmits the receiver voltage,current, or other parameter or the difference between this value and adesired value to the charger which responds to this by adjusting itsfrequency, duty cycle and/or input voltage or a combination thereof toachieve the desired operation.

In accordance with an embodiment, it may be advantageous to constructthe charger/transmitter coil from ferromagnetic material withappropriate property so that the coil acts as both the magnetic fieldgenerator and the magnetic shield for MA and MC geometry. This mayeliminate the need to have an additional magnetic or ferrite layer onthe top surface of the charger/transmitter. Alternately, to retaindesirable high conductivity and Q of the transmitter and/or receivercoils and to achieve the switching effect, a metallic coil of PCB and/orwire may be coated or covered with a switching magnet material such asferromagnet.

FIG. 39 shows a commercially available wire or cable 472 available in avariety of gauges with these characteristics. Section A in FIG. 39comprises multiple strands of copper or other conductor wire which canalso be individually coated or insulated to avoid conduction between thestrands (similar to Litz wire) to avoid skin effects. Section B is anovercoat or layer of ferrite or other magnetic material. Section C is anoptional outer coating or insulation. The ferrite layer or coating canbe achieved by dipping into a slurry, sputtering, e-beam, etc. asappropriate.

Similarly, a magnetic or ferrite layer made of material with lowsaturation magnetic field values can be used above the transmitter coil(e.g., as a switching layer in MA or MC with or without flux guidegeometries) while a material with higher saturation magnetic field valuecan be used below the transmitter coil and/or above the receiver coilfor shielding purposes. For example, Nickel, cobalt, Mn, Zn, Fe, etc. oralloys of such material (see FIG. 15 or 17) with low saturation magneticfield values can be used as the top layer of the charger/transmitterwhile Sheet Steel or FineMET® or other shield material with highsaturation magnetic field values would be used for shielding. For eithermaterial, care should be taken to use material that reduces oreliminates eddy currents through geometry or doping of the material toprovide high resistivity. By using a low saturation magnetic fieldmaterial, a smaller and/or weaker switching permanent magnet and/orelectromagnet or resonant induced magnetic field can be used forswitching the switchable layer. Thus, the shields would not be saturatedby the magnet used for switching and would remain effective in shieldingunwanted stray magnetic fields from affecting nearby devices, materials,or living tissue. In such a case, the total system would be completelyshielded and safe. Power would at the same time transfer efficientlybetween the transmitter and receiver from the created magnetic apertureat one or more locations desired by user where receivers are placed.

In some circumstances, it may be desirable for a user to modify areceiver used for a fixed position or MR, MC, or MA system to functionwith a system with flux guides. As shown in FIGS. 30-37, this mayrequire extending the magnetic shield layer to cover an area larger thanbehind the receiver coil in one or multiple dimensions.

In accordance with an embodiment 480 shown in FIG. 40, this shield/fluxguide layer can be a thin solid or flexible ferrite or other magneticlayer that can be attached to the receiver or a case, battery door,phone case/sleeve, battery, dongle or mobile or other device by themanufacturer or by the user to extend this flux guide path. Thisattachment can be done during manufacture, or as an after-market oroption by the consumer. In this manner, the device, battery, case/sleeveor part intended to be powered can be used with the flux guide positionindependent system described here. At the same time, the charging of thedevice on the original intended charger would not be affected and can beaccomplished. An example a phone case/sleeve receiver can be designed tobe charged by a fixed position or Wireless Power Consortium (WPC, aninteroperability standard for tightly-coupled chargers and receivers)charger. By attaching a thin flexible or solid ferrite layer to theinside of the case or battery door behind the receiver coil a flux guidelayer can be created allowing the device to be charged in a positionindependent manner on an appropriate system such as those shown in FIGS.30-37 with flux guiding providing more utility and ease of use. Thisembodiment can be demonstrated experimentally with a WPC iPhone sleevereceiver. Adding a thin (0.5 mm thick) layer of ferrite materialextending the length of the sleeve to the inside part of the sleeve(between the sleeve and the phone), the WPC receiver case/sleeve can beused on the flux guide system or the MC Flux guide charger describedabove. The case/sleeve can of course function with its intended WPCchargers as well. Addition of the flux guide layer can be accomplishedby the user or by the manufacturer and can provide this addedfunctionality of spatial and coil to coil gap separation, without lossof original functionality or added bulk.

In the above descriptions many geometries and systems have beendescribed. In accordance with various embodiments, one or several of thegeometries or systems can be used in combination in a charger and/orreceivers, to provide the desired performance and benefits. The abovedescription and embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive, and areinstead intended to only show some examples of the rich and variedproducts and technologies that can be envisioned and realized by variousembodiments of the invention. It will be evident to persons skilled inthe art that these and other embodiments can be combined to producecombinations of above techniques, to provide useful effects andproducts.

Some aspects of the present invention can be conveniently implementedusing a conventional general purpose or a specialized digital computer,microprocessor, or electronic circuitry programmed according to theteachings of the present disclosure. Appropriate software coding canreadily be prepared by skilled programmers and circuit designers basedon the teachings of the present disclosure, as will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art.

In some embodiments, the present invention includes a computer programproduct which is a storage medium (media) having instructions storedthereon/in which can be used to program a computer to perform any of theprocesses of the present invention. The storage medium can include, butis not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, opticaldiscs, DVD, CD-ROMs, microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs,EPROMs, EEPROMs, DRAMs, VRAMs, flash memory devices, magnetic or opticalcards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any type ofmedia or device suitable for storing instructions and/or data.

The foregoing description of the present invention has been provided forthe purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed.Many modifications and variations will be apparent to the practitionerskilled in the art. The embodiments were chosen and described in orderto best explain the principles of the invention and its practicalapplication, thereby enabling others skilled in the art to understandthe invention for various embodiments and with various modificationsthat are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended thatthe scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and theirequivalence.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wireless power charger, comprising: a base unithaving one or more transmitter coils; and one or more componentsincluding a magnetic material or layer, that modify the magnitude and/orphase of an electromagnetic field and/or corresponding magnetic flux inone or multiple dimensions and/or to guide the magnetic flux in such amanner as to create a preferential path for flux flow, the preferentialpath having a geometry that provides for low flux leakage and thatexhibits low reluctance for return magnetic flux, wherein, when one ormore vehicles, mobile devices, cases, skins, battery doors, dongles, orbatteries, each having one or more receiver coils or receiversassociated therewith, is placed in proximity to the base unit, one ormore of the transmitter coils are used to inductively generate a currentin the receiver coil or receiver associated with the vehicles, mobiledevices, cases, skins, battery doors, dongles, or batteries to charge orpower the vehicles, mobile devices, cases, skins, battery doors,dongles, or batteries.
 2. The wireless power charger of claim 1, whereinthe base unit and the one or more vehicles, mobile devices, cases,skins, battery doors, dongles, or batteries, communicate with each otherprior to and/or during charging or powering to determine a protocol tobe used to charge or power the vehicles, mobile devices, cases, skins,battery doors, dongles, or batteries.
 3. The wireless power charger ofclaim 1, wherein the base unit and the one or more vehicles, mobiledevices, cases, skins, battery doors, dongles, or batteries communicatewith each other through a separate coil, radio frequency link, oroptical communication, to determine a type of base unit and vehicles,mobile devices, cases, skins, battery doors, dongles, or batteries. 4.The wireless power charger of claim 1, wherein the base unit and the oneor more vehicles, mobile devices, cases, skins, battery doors, dongles,or batteries communicate with each other to verify the authenticity,power requirements and/or other characteristics of the vehicles, mobiledevices, cases, skins, battery doors, dongles, or batteries, and/orverify or handshake the presence of the vehicles, mobile devices, cases,skins, battery doors, dongles, or batteries proximate the base unit. 5.The wireless power charger of claim 1, wherein the base unit determinesthe presence of vehicles, mobile devices, cases, skins, battery doors,dongles, or batteries, in proximity to the base unit, and wherein one ormore receiver coil or receiver thereby activated performs an initiationprocess whereby its ID, presence, power, voltage or other requirementsare communicated to the base unit, including different power, voltage orother requirements for different vehicles, mobile devices, cases, skins,battery doors, dongles, or batteries.
 6. The wireless power charger ofclaim 1, wherein the base unit and/or the one or more vehicles, mobiledevices, cases, skins, battery doors, dongles, or batteries includes amicrocontroller that makes appropriate adjustments to achieve a desiredoutput voltage, current or power, to be used using in charging orpowering the vehicles, mobile devices, cases, skins, battery doors,dongles, or batteries.
 7. The wireless power charger of claim 1, whereinthe base unit periodically pings for the presence of a vehicles, mobiledevices, cases, skins, battery doors, dongles, or batteries in proximityto the base unit, and wherein a receiver coil or receiver therebyactivated performs an initiation process whereby its ID, presence,power, voltage or other requirements are communicated to the base unit.8. The wireless power charger of claim 1, wherein the base unit and/orthe one or more vehicles, mobile devices, cases, skins, battery doors,dongles, or batteries performs a method for supporting multipledifferent charging protocols, for use with the vehicles, mobile devices,cases, skins, battery doors, dongles, or batteries, and/or tocommunicate parameters to increase or decrease power or voltage providedto the receiver coil or receiver associated with the vehicles, mobiledevices, cases, skins, battery doors, dongles, or batteries.
 9. Thewireless power charger of claim 1, wherein the base unit can charge orpower a plurality of vehicles, mobile devices, cases, skins, batterydoors, dongles, or batteries simultaneously, including use of differentcharging protocols.
 10. The wireless power charger of claim 1, whereinthe instruction set, software or firmware for operation of the chargerand/or receivers or incorporated therein to improve or modify wirelesscharging capabilities and function or to add further user functionalitycan be updated locally or remotely by a user or automatically.
 11. Thewireless power charger of claim 1, wherein the wireless charger and/orreceivers are configured as a multi-protocol system for use withdifferent communication and/or control protocols, or different means ofcommunication.
 12. A method for use with a multi-dimensional wirelesspower charger, comprising: providing a base unit having one or moretransmitter coils, and one or more magnetic material or layers, thatmodify the magnitude and/or phase of an electromagnetic field and/orcorresponding magnetic flux in one or multiple dimensions and/or toguide the magnetic flux in such a manner as to create a preferentialpath for flux flow, the preferential path having a geometry thatprovides for low flux leakage and that exhibits low reluctance forreturn magnetic flux; and using the base unit to charge or power one ormore vehicles, mobile devices, cases, skins, battery doors, dongles, orbatteries, wherein, when one or more vehicles, mobile devices, cases,skins, battery doors, dongles, or batteries, each having one or morereceiver coils or receivers associated therewith, is placed in proximityto the base unit, one or more of the transmitter coils are used toinductively generate currents in the receiver coils or receiversassociated with the vehicles, mobile devices, cases, skins, batterydoors, dongles, or batteries, to charge or power the vehicles, mobiledevices, cases, skins, battery doors, dongles, or batteries.
 13. Thecharger of claim 1, wherein the geometry of the preferential path is aMagnetic Aperture geometry.
 14. The charger of claim 1, wherein thegeometry of the preferential path is a Magnetic Resonance geometry. 15.The charger of claim 1, wherein the geometry of the preferential path isa Magnetic Coupling geometry.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein thegeometry of the preferential path is a Magnetic Aperture geometry. 17.The method of claim 12, wherein the geometry of the preferential path isa Magnetic Resonance geometry.
 18. The method of claim 12, wherein thegeometry of the preferential path is a Magnetic Coupling geometry.